Let Me Be Your Wings
by AlexandriaHunter
Summary: This is the sequel to How to Believe. It picks up right were that story left off. How will Mari and Rose face Mara?
1. Chapter 1

**PREVIOUSLY**

Previously on How to Believe…Rose Hunter arrives in Haven to help her friend with casework and ends up falling in love with Duke Crocker and Dwight Hendrickson. She also befriends Mari, a young woman who has come to Haven looking for a half brother she didn't even know she had until she was 18. Through each other, each woman finds the strength to fight their own battles, helping their friends and each other in the process…

**CHAPTER 1**

**DUKE**

I sat watching the steady rise and fall of Mari's chest. It had been a few hours since we had managed to get ourselves out of the chamber below the lighthouse. We had discovered that Mara could be contained there for the time being. There was apparently some last line of defense against her and she couldn't cross some invisible barrier that was just before the door to the outside world. It killed Nathan to leave, because despite the fact that she was Mara, it was Audrey's body. But we had to leave her there for now. We needed to figure out what the hell was wrong with my sister and what the hell we were going to do about the crazy witch. Rose said that we should take Mari to Magnus before taking her to the hospital, so we had come to the apartment above the Gray Gull where Magnus was. When he examined her, he explained that, while she was still there, something had tried to take over her body and so her inner being was traumatized and hiding. We had to coax her back into the waking world. Rose had agreed to try, but she was so exhausted from her fight with Lilith that she hadn't been able to reach the plane that Mari was on. She was curled up on Dwight's lap nearby trying to get some rest. Jace was laying on the other side of Mari, trying to get some form of rest and Nathan had gone with Vince and Dave to the Haven Herald to try and dig up any information on Mara. Magnus had returned to Brooklyn leaving the promise that, should he be needed, Jace and Rose knew how to reach him.

I rested my head against Mari's arm and sighed. Everything was going out of control. One minute things were good; Rose had gotten rid of Lillith and was safe, William was back in whatever hell he came from and Audrey was safe and sound here. And then the next second it had all gone to hell. I didn't know what to do anymore. I was trying to keep my family safe, but it just kept getting harder. Now Mari was laying here, unconscious, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I was slowly dropping off into sleep when I heard mumbling coming from the direction of Rose and Dwight. I slowly turned and saw Rose twitching in her sleep. Her mouth was moving, but she wasn't making any sounds until suddenly she jumped up and screamed, "NO!" as she made a beeline out the door and onto the deck. Dwight jolted awake, eyes wide, searching for an attacker. He met my eyes and followed them to where Rose had just ran out the door. "What happened?" he asked me in confusion. I was still staring towards the door. "I have NO idea…"

**ROSE**

I stood out on the deck for a long moment trying to piece together what had just happened. I was sleeping peacefully on Dwight's lap as we waited for my magick to recharge enough to try and pull Mari back to us and then I heard it. I heard Mara's voice in my head laughing at me. Taunting me. Telling me how she was going to use me to hurt those I love. She showed me their bodies laying dead with my athame plunged into their chests and their eyes empty and lifeless staring up at me with accusation. I forced myself awake screaming and when I opened my eyes I saw Duke staring at me. I couldn't face him so I ran.

"Rose?" I heard from behind me and I turned slowly in horror and surprise. Standing behind me was a young woman of 30 years old. She had long brown hair and bright blue eyes that stood out against her pale skin. "Morgan?" I asked in a whisper, feeling tears begin to fall down my face. "Why did you let her do it Rose?" she asked me, moving forward as a wound opened on her throat and slowly began to drip blood. "Why did you let her kill me? Kill Hunter? Kill Moira?! Why?!" she screamed as she moved so that she was standing face to face with me. Blood was spilling down her neck and turning her white nightgown red. "No! I didn't-I swear I didn't! Morgan! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I cried as I fell to the ground. "Rose?!" I heard Morgan yell at me. "Rose!" someone yelled again, but this time the voice wasn't Morgan's but Duke's. I looked up and was met with his beautiful eyes, not Morgan's. I searched wildly for her or any sign that she had been there, but she was gone. "Rose what happened?" Duke asked gently, reaching a hand towards me, but I flinched backwards at the sight of blood dripping from his hand. "No! Don't touch me!" I screamed as I scrambled back into a corner. Duke froze and I saw hurt flash across his face. "I'm-I'm sorry Rose, I just don't know what to do to help. Please...talk to me…" he pleaded and I took a deep breath. "I'm fine Duke I just…" I looked toward his outstretched hand again and found it clean. "I think I was having a waking nightmare," I replied slowly as I reached forward and took his hand. "I'm sorry!" I said as I pulled myself towards him and wrapped my arms around him, kissing his collarbone gently. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. "It's okay," he whispered, running a hand through my hair. "It's okay. It's been a rough couple of days for all of us. Lets get you back inside." I nodded and allowed him to pick me up and carry me back inside. _That was just a taste my dear. I'm getting stronger and when I finally get out of here, my darling granddaughter...I will make your life a living hell..._I heard Mara whisper in my head. I felt myself tense up, but when Duke looked at me I shook my head and tried to smile. I couldn't tell him that this woman was related to me. No one could know…

**DUKE**

I carried Rose back into the apartment and sat down on the couch, nodding my head to Dwight to tell him to come over. He sat down next to me and I moved Rose so that she was sitting on both our laps. "Rose, what the hell was that?" I asked her, concerned. "Nothing, just a really bad dream," she said, but I could tell there was something more. I looked over her head at Dwight, trying to convey my concern through my eyes. He got it. He put a hand on her back and started to rub reassuring circles around her back. "Baby, if something's wrong, you need to tell us," he said quietly. Rose closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Really, I'm fine. Sorry for the extreme reaction. It really was just a horrible nightmare." I could tell that, for whatever reason, she wasn't going to tell either of us what really happened. "How's Mari?" she continued, looking over her shoulder at the bed. I sighed. "She's breathing," I said. "But to be honest, if she doesn't come around soon, I'm not sure how long that is going to continue." I'd seen people slip into comas before and it wasn't pretty. Sometimes it only lasted a few hours, but other times…"She's going to be fine Duke," Rose said quietly, putting her hand on mine. "We'll get her back." "But how? Magnus said we have to coax her out, but what if she doesn't want to come back? Given her life, I'd wanna stay away too," I said quietly, almost to myself. "Duke," Rose said, moving her hand from mine to my face. "She has four very big reasons to come back. And they are all in this room. She just needs to be reminded, or shown the way. She's a fighter." I had to laugh at the understatement. If there was one thing my sister was, it was a fighter. She could fight her way out of anything, which was part of the reason I was worried that she hadn't come out of the coma yet. "I know," I said, squeezing Rose's hand. "Thanks babe." I smiled at her.

I saw Dwight look questioningly at Rose. "Four reasons?" he asked. Rose looked at him and put her other hand on his cheek. "Jace, Duke, me, and you," she said simply. "Me?" he asked confused. I could sense Rose roll her eye and smile. I smiled inwardly knowing what she was thinking. "Mari thinks of you as her big brother too Dwight," I said looking at him. His look of confusion deepened. "Really? Why?" Rose helped answer that part. "When this," she said, pointing to the three of us, "happened, she figured it just made sense. Duke's her biological brother, but you and I have sort of become her adoptive family. You did also save her from William's henchmen," she said. I saw Dwight's features soften and a smile creep across his face. "Oh," he said simply. He looked at me as if he wanted to make sure it was all ok. "Hey," I said, taking his hand. "If anything were to happen to me, I couldn't imagine anyone better to look after my baby sister." Dwight squeezed my hand. "Thanks," he said. I leaned in and kissed him. As I leaned back I looked over to the bed, hoping that I'd see movement or that Mari would have just woken up on her own. But nothing had changed.

Mari still lay motionless with Jace laying next to her. I had to hand it to the kid, if he could handle all of this, then he'd be able to handle anything my sister threw at him. And so far, he'd seemed pretty good with all of this. A part of me had hoped that Mari would wake up with him laying next to her, but it was looking more and more like we'd actually have to work at it. She wasn't waking up on her own. "Go," I heard Rose whisper in my ear. I looked back at her and I could see love pouring out of her eyes. Love for me as well as love for Mari. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and got up, moving to the seat next to the bed that I'd been sitting in earlier.

I sat down next to the bed and took Mari's unmoving hand. "Come on Mar. You can't do this to me. You can't leave me. We all need you," I whispered hoping she would hear me. I kissed her hand gently and realized I had tears rolling down my cheeks. A part of my mind told me to care, but I couldn't bring myself to. I had almost lost both the loves of my life earlier that day and now I was very close to losing my sister. Even though she had only been in my life a few months, I couldn't imagine my life without her. Sure she was the most snarky and sarcastic person I'd ever met, but underneath that she had a good heart. Now that her life had stopped resembling a Bond movie, she had started to open up and let her walls down. She had become one of my best friends and the thought of never talking to her again, never seeing her smile again, a rarity in itself but still, that thought killed me. I glanced back towards where Dwight and Rose were sitting, but I knew, just from looking that Rose needed a few more hours of rest before she was up to performing any sort of miracles.

"You know she loves you right?" I heard from beside me and I turned to meet Jace's eyes. "She is proud to have you as her brother," he continued and I smiled softly. "Yeah well, I'm pretty proud to have her as a sister too," I replied. "So if you hurt her I will kill you," I threatened jokingly. He smiled tightly at me and nodded. "Noted," he replied. "But I never would. Hurt her, that is." I nodded. "I know you won't. I think you've gone through enough with her to know that she is crazy and so is this town. If you're still here...well...I give you tons of points and I figure you know what you're getting yourself into." He smiled. The moment was interrupted by Rose who had walked over. "Okay. I think I'm up to giving it another go," she said softly. "If you two are okay with it?" She looked between me and Jace and we both nodded. "Yeah, let's do this," Jace said, but I frowned at her. "Are you sure babe? That nightmare was pretty intense and you did just fight off a seriously bad witch…" I began, but she cut me off. "The sooner I do this the better. The longer we wait the farther away from us she can get. So it needs to happen now. I'll be fine sweetheart," she said softly, kissing my lips. I sighed and nodded. "Okay, what do you need?"


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**BOTH**

Rose gently laid her finger tips on Mari's temples and synched their breathing as she whispered the spell for the tath meanma brach. Then she was in Mari's memories. Rose looked around, slowly gaining her bearings. She was in a large house with no furniture nearby. The windows were tall and let in the harsh moonlight. Rose slowly moved to the windows and glanced outside, just barely able to make out the glint of a river flowing nearby. It was eerily silent as she scanned the room she was in for Mari. "Mari?" she called gently, but received no answer.

After searching the first floor thoroughly Rose slowly moved upstairs, checking every nook and cranny as she went. When she reached the second floor, she paused as she took in all the doors that were open, but one. Making the easy decision, she made her way to the closed door and knocked softly. "Mari? Can I come in?" she asked softly as she slowly pushed the door open. What she say inside broke her heart. There was a young girl sitting on the floor holding a stuffed hippo staring at a spot on the floor silently. "Mari?" Rose asked again softly, hoping the little girl would look up. The little girl didn't look up but said "Go away," and turned so that her back was facing Rose. Rose sighed and moved to sit so that she was sitting across from Mari's back. She didn't want to force her, but she needed to understand what was going on. "Mari, do you know who I am?" she asked gently, trying to keep her voice light and cheerful. "No, and I don't care!" Mari said, bending her head down to bury it in the hippo. "Mari, sweetheart, my name is Rose and I'm a good friend of yours. We live together in a town called Haven. Does that name sound familiar to you at all?" she asked, hoping for some thread to grasp at for pulling Mari out of this. "I don't live in Haven," Mari said, still turned away. "I live here with my daddy and you can't take me away! I'm not going anywhere! I'm staying here!" Rose could see Mari's shoulders start to shake, as if she was crying. She heard Mari sniff. "Oh Mari, what have you done to yourself?" she said softly to herself before taking a deep breath. "Okay, well Mari, tell me do you like movies?" she asked, slowly getting an idea as she looked around at the blank walls that surrounded them. "What kind of movies?" Mari asked slowly. Rose smiled slightly. "Fairytales, where the sleeping prince is saved by the heroic and kick ass princess." Mari slowly turned her body so she could look at Rose and wiped her nose with the back of her arm. "I don't know any movies like that," she said. "Well I do. The princess is a badass and she's one of my best friends. Almost like a sister to me. Can I show you that movie?" Rose asked, hoping that, if this worked, she could bring back the memories. After a few moments, Mari looked at her with big eyes and said, "Ok."

Rose smiled and began projecting her memories onto the blank wall behind her. She started with the first memories she had of Mari from when she first came to Haven. She slowly continued to show the fun and interesting memories that she had of her adventures with Mari, paying particular attention to the loving relationship between Mari and Duke and Mari and Jace, hoping that it would trigger some sort of reaction in the little girl. "Who's that?" Mari asked pointing to Duke. "And that?" when Jace came into view. Rose smiled. "That," she said pointing to Duke, "Is the Pirate with a Heart of Gold. he's a smuggler and a restaurant owner and he's your half-brother, Duke. He loves you very much. He wants you to come back. And that," she said as she pointed to Jace, "is the Demon Hunter and all around big teddy bear that helps to keep you happy and safe when Duke isn't around. His name is Jace. You know, he has been laying next to you ever since you came here and he hasn't left your side once. I think he really loves you a lot." Rose hoped that the explanation made sense to the little girl side of Mari, but she didn't know how else to explain it. She watched as Mari watched the memories run across the wall. Mari got up and walked to the wall, putting a hand out to touch the images of Duke and Jace. Suddenly he hugged her hippo tightly and sunk down to the floor, burying her head in the hippo and sobbing. "What's wrong Mari?" Rose asked softly. "I don't want to go…" Mari said quietly through tears. "I'm scared." "Oh sweetie, there's nothing to be scared of. I promise you that Duke and Jace and Dwight and I are all there to protect you. We love you sweetie," she said, trying to get Mari to see it. Without warning, Mari ran to Rose, wrapping her arms around Rose's waist tightly and shuddering. Will you take me away from the dark?" she asked Rose, talking into Rose's shirt. Rose wrapped her arms tightly around Mari and nodded. "Yes I will. I will take you away from the dark and into the light my darling. You ready to go?" she asked hopefully. Mari nodded, her head still buried in Rose's shirt. Rose smiled in relief and gently stood up, still holding Mari. "Let's go home," she said softly and she carried the little girl down the stairs and out the front door of the house.

Rose quickly opened her eyes and looked down at Mari, waiting for her eyes to open. "Mari?" Duke asked in surprise, looking down at her hand. Rose looked down and saw Mari's hand twitch. "Mari!" Duke said again and this time, Mari's eyes fluttered open. Rose smiled happily, feeling tears of relief begin to fill her eyes. "Oh thank the gods," Jace said happily. Dwight gently placed his hands on Rose's shoulders giving them a gentle squeeze. "Welcome back," Rose said to Mari softly. Mari smiled at her. "Thanks," she said. Duke had moved to sit on the bed and was holding her hand in both of his while Jace had her other hand. "Hey guys," Mari said smiling. "Did you miss me?" she asked jokingly. Duke laughed and kissed her forehead. "Not a bit," he replied and Jace wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you for coming back," he whispered softly. Mari turned and kissed him gently. "For you, always," she said. Rose looked up at Dwight and he nodded. He gently helped her off the bed and they left Duke, Jace, and Mari alone for a moment. "Hey, where do you think you guys are going?" Mari asked, her voice a little gravely. "This, apparently, is a family affair!" Rose laughed. "It is, but I think your brother and your lover want a few moments alone with you. We'll be right outside, I promise," she said softly, winking at Mari before exiting the room. Mari made a face at Rose's back as she left, but turned her attention to the men on either side of her. "What happened? All I remember was being in the cave, and then I had the strangest dream," she said. Duke's smiled dropped a bit. "We lost Audrey...kind of," he said slowly, trying to think of a way to explain it that was simple. "Her original persona returned. Her name is Mara, but she is stuck under the lighthouse for the moment. Nathan's devastated, but we are hoping we will find a way to bring Audrey back and send Mara back to whatever hell we sent William to." Mari closed her eyes. "Head…" she said, moaning. "I black out and miss all the fun?" Jace smiled slightly. "Well not all of it. You were part of the fun," he said smiling hugely. Duke glared at Jace playfully, but nodded. "Apparently, before returning to Audrey's body, Mara's persona tried to take over your body, hence the passing out thing," Jace explained.

"Wow...I mean I would have chosen me too but...so I guess the weird dream wasn't actually a dream then?" Mari asked hoping they'd say that it was a dream. Duke answered. "No, Magnus said something about you retreating into yourself after you passed out, so…" he trailed off trying to find the right words. _I came to find you, _Rose said softly into Mari's head. "Well that explains a lot," Mari said out loud. "So how long was I out for?" Jace put a hand on her cheek. "A few hours," he said quietly. Mari could feel the residual worry from him and Duke. She could see herself lying in the bed in their minds. She looked like she was dead. She grimaced and flinched away from the mental image. "Sorry," she said quietly to no one in particular. Duke smiled at her softly. "It's not your fault. You have nothing to worry about. Mara is the one who is going to be sorry, once we figure out how to put our hands on her without her killing us." Mari laughed and then instantly regretted it. "Ow...I didn't by any chance hit my stomach when I passed out did I?" she asked. "Yeah, sort of," Jace said. "You kinda doubled over and then fell, like you'd been hit in the stomach." Mari made a face. "Great, well no clubbing for a while then," she said trying to sit up. Duke made a face and Jace just laughed. "Not for a while, love," he said softly as he helped her sit up. Duke shook his head. "Where the hell would you go clubbing around Haven anyway?" he asked, only half way joking. Mari looked at him smirking. "Oh I know a few places," she said also halfway joking. "I hear the Herald gets pretty out of control after hours," she said smiling. She put a hand to Jace's face. _I know you've been here the whole time and I love you for that, but would I be the worst person in the world if I asked you to leave for a bit so I can spend some time with my brother?_ she sent him, looking into his eyes. She was expecting to see hurt, but instead she saw understanding. He kissed her hand, then her lips lightly and said, "I'm starving. I'm gonna go downstairs and get some food since you have nothing up here. I already checked. Nothing but pasta and sugar." He smiled as he walked through the door. Mari shook her head slightly. She really didn't deserve that kid.

She patted the bed next to her, asking Duke to snuggle with her. He smiled and climbed up, wrapping his arms protectively around her. "You know, Rose may have brought me back, but it was you who showed me how," she said, resting her head on his chest. "What do you mean?" he asked her. "I was back in my parent's house in Oregon. It was just after mom died. She was the only person I ever felt truly safe with. I mean, my dad was amazing, and I'll always love him, but after mom died...I don't know, he just sort of...gave up for a while...anyway, I remember sitting in my bedroom holding Henry, my stuffed hippo, and all I wanted was to be safe again. To feel like I was in a real home, you know? And then Rose came in and I had no idea who she was and at first I thought she was trying to take me away from my dad, but then she showed me movie projections of her memories of everyone here, and when I saw the projections of you and Jace, I don't know, it was like, some part of me remembered _feeling_ safe and loved," she tried to explain. She cursed herself inwardly as she felt tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. She turned and buried her head in Duke's shirt, letting the smell of ocean and boat that was Duke fill her nose. He hugged her tighter but didn't say anything.

**ROSE**

I stood behind the bar of the Gray Gull, cleaning the last of the glasses that were left over from the night before. Lana wasn't coming in today so someone had to do it. Jace and Dwight were talking quietly on the other side of the bar and I couldn't help but smile. The young man seemed to have won over both Dwight and Duke. "Rose?" a voice whispered from behind me and I froze. _Not again!_ I thought softly as I slowly turned around. Standing behind me was a young woman of 18 years old. She looked so similar to her mother, Morgan, that it hurt to look at her. "Rose, why did you let her hurt us?" she asked me softly. I lost my grasp on the glass I was holding and I quickly stepped away from her. "You're not real," I whispered. "Moira is dead. I saw her. You're not real!" I screamed at the person in front of me. Jace and Dwight were moving towards me slowly, but my sole focus was on Moira. "Oh, I'm very real. See, I can bleed!" she said, laughing maniacally as a cut appeared on her throat and she began to bleed, just like the vision of Morgan had earlier. "NO! Stop it! Why are you doing this to me?!" I cried out in horror as I watched my goddaughter collapse to the ground in front of me. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I spun around in surprise, coming face to face with Dwight's chest.

"Rose what's wrong? Why are you screaming?" he asked in concern. I shook my head and tried to bury myself in his arms. "I think Mara is trying to drive me insane," I whispered finally. I felt Dwight stiffen beneath me. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully. I struggled to find the words to explain without giving too much away. "We-we are both witches. And so through that magick we are all connected. A small part of me can feel every witch that exists right now, including Mara. If I were to concentrate solely on one witch, I could communicate with them or, in this case, drive them crazy. Mara is…" I steadied myself. "She's showing me my coven. The ones who were killed. One by one. Each of them bleeding and begging me to save them. When I know I can't…" I felt the tears begin to stream down my face again. "I don't know what else she can do, but it scares me…" I finished softly, knowing that I was willingly keeping a secret from my soulmate. It hurt, but it would hurt much worse to see the fear and hatred in his eyes if I told him or Duke the truth. If they knew that I was related to Mara they would cast me out. There was no doubt in my mind.

Dwight held me closer and kissed my forehead. "She's not going to get you, babe. You belong to us and no one is going to take you away from us," he said softly. He gently poked one of the hickies on my neck. "Don't forget that," he said laughing. I couldn't help but laugh with him. When I finally disentangled myself from him I noticed that Jace had cleaned up the broken glass behind the bar. "Thanks Jace. I appreciate it," I said softly and gave him a brief hug. He smiled in return and the three of us moved to a table to sit down and wait for Duke and Mari to emerge from upstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

MARI

Lying wrapped in Duke's arms, I felt safe and warm, in a way that was completely different than when Jace held me. This was like when my mom used to hold me. Nothing could touch me and the whole world just dissappeared. It was like eating a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup on a freezing cold day. When Jace held me it was a whole different kind of right. Like a hot shower or drinking a shot of whiskey. Or even jumping into a lake on a hot day. It made everything come alive instead of dulling my senses. I could hear the thoughts coming from downstairs and as much as I wanted to stay here, a large part of me yearned to be in Jace's arms too. "We should go downstairs, I finally said, still talking into Duke's chest. "No, you should stay here," Duke said with a "take charge" tone of voice. "You've been through a lot and you need to rest." I snorted. "Duke," I said, pushing myself away from him. "I've been sleeping for the past few hours! I'm fine! If nothing else, I need to eat something! I'm starving!" "Ok," Duke said, and then added "But what if I don't want to go?" I wriggled into him and wrapped my arms around him and said, "Ok, but Jace will be coming up here and there won't be room for all three of us in this bed. On the plus side, I'll never have to send you mental images again because you'll just have the ones from today forever melted into your mind." I smiled evily and looked up at him. He grimaced and released me, sitting up on the bed. "God you're bad!" he said and he put his shoes back on. "I know, but you love me for it!" I said sitting up slowly. "Ow." Duke wrapped a hand around my back. "Easy now," he said as he helped me to the end of the bed. "Maybe no Jace gymnastics tonight?" he asked hopefully. I shook my head. "Not a chance," I said and attempted to smile. My whole body ached and felt like I'd been hit by a truck and then dragged 10 miles. I stood up gingerly, leaning heavily on Duke. "Besides," I said, "I'm going to need to take a shower and YOU can't help me with that." I felt Duke roll his eyes and grimace inwardly. "Good point. I guess it's a good thing Jace is around then," he said as he carefully let me go. I stood on my own and made to get my shoes. Bending over was a bad idea though and I fell sideways, crashing into the floor. "Ow! God damn it!" I said and hit the floor with my hands. Duke leaned down and picked me up so that I was standing again. Then he handed me my shoes. "Here," he said smiling. He sat me down in a chair and helped me put them on. "I feel like I'm five," I said and pouted, crossing my arms over my chest. "At least I can say I know what you were like as a kid!" Duke said and smiled. I rolled my eyes. Duke offered me his hand and I took it, knowing I wouldn't be able to make it downstairs on my own. "You know, you could stay up here," Duke said as he opened the door. I shook my head vehemently. "Not a chance!" I sad. "God, you're stubborn," Duke said smiling, and he helped me walk down the stairs and into the Gull.

When we got down to the Gull, Dwight, Rose, and Jace were sitting around a table talking about what to do about Mara. When I walked through the door, they all looked up and I could feel their happiness and relief wash over me. "Hey guys!" I said still heavily leaning on Duke for support. Jace got up from the table and came over to me. "Thanks," I said looking up at him. He smiled. "You're welcome," he said and then gently kissed me on the lips. As he wrapped his arms around my waist, I felt Duke let go, allowing Jace to support my full weight. I wrapped my arms around Jace's neck and deepened the kiss further, wanting to shut out the rest of the world. From behind Jace I heard Dwight clear his throat and briefly saw an image of him pummeling Jace. I broke away from the kiss and looked at Dwight around Jace's arm. What's with Dwight? I asked Rose through our mental connection. He's recently realized that you consider him a big brother and is feeling rather protective. You're the first person he's had that he feels might ACTUALLY need his protection since Lizzie. He knows he doesn't NEED to protect me, she replied smirking slightly as she patted Dwight's hand gently. Why does everyone think I need protecting? I moaned inwardly as Jace led me to the table. I sat down and Duke handed me a glass of water. I glared at it. "Anything stronger?" I asked hopefully. "Not today Mar, you need to drink water!" He sat down on Rose's other side. Rose smiled at him and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "So how are you feeling Mar?" she asked softly. "Aside from the obvious soreness etc.?" "Actually not that bad. My head hurts a little, but apparently Duke is taking care of that," I said holding up the water glass. "You?" I asked Rose. She shrugged, sending a mental image of the waking nightmares that Mara was sending her. "I've been better. Once we get rid of this bitch I will be able to sleep again," she replied bitterly. I grimaced at the images and caught something at the fringes of them. The one thing about reading minds was that the better you knew someone, the more acquainted with their minds you became and the harder it was for them to hide anything from you. I could tell Rose was hiding something, but what it was I didn't know. But I was going to find out, whether she liked it or not.

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but I've got something to discuss with Mari, so if you don't mind…" Jace said suddenly, standing up. I looked at him quizzically. "You do?" I asked him. Suddenly my mind filled with images of the two of us in my apartment. "Oh, right. That." I let him help me up and I leaned on him heavily, letting him walk me slowly out of the Gull. I waved goodbye to everyone and made a mental note to sit down and actually talk to Dwight at some point. When Jace and I got to the stairs I paused and looked up at them. Coming down them had been one thing, but I wasn't sure my legs could handle going up. Jace looked at me. "Here, hop on," he said and offered me his back. I raised an eyebrow. "Really?" I asked. "I mean I know I'm small but I don't think…" "Just hop on," he said. "Ok, but if you drop me you're dead." He laughed and I put my arms around my neck. As he leaned forward slightly I jumped, as much as my legs would allow anyway. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he corrected himself. He walked upstairs as if he was carrying nothing more than a backpack. He put me down carefully just outside the door and grabbed my hand, gently pulling me into the apartment.

The minute the door closed behind me I threw myself at Jace, only to find two hands firmly gripping my arms just below my shoulders. I frowned, but quickly rearranged my features so that I was smiling up at him. "What happened to those thoughts from before?" I asked him, putting my hand on the side of his face, showing him what he had filled my head with only moments before. I hoped that reminding him of those and sending him the feelings that I was feeling would end his sudden resolve. "Not yet," he said looking at me with a seriousness I'd never seen in him before. It caught me off guard and when I scanned his emotions, I felt a mixture of fear and worry. "First I want- no I need to tell you something," he continued. He let go of my arms and I wobbled a little, still not completely steady on my feet. "Here," he said and he guided me to the bed and had me sit down. He sat down next to me and I turned so that our knees were touching. He rubbed his hands on his legs and stared at the floor. His thoughts were so jumbled I couldn't tell what he wanted to talk about and it was making me nervous. When guys acted like this around girls it was usually a sign that they were looking to get out. I couldn't really blame Jace. I had put him through a lot, even though most of it was unintentional, but still. Between all of that and me pushing me away, it wouldn't have shocked me if he wanted to get the hell out of dodge.

"Jace," I started, trying to keep my voice even. I hadn't realized until just now how much I cared about him. It was unlike me to get attached to anyone, let alone guys, but in the last few months, I had found myself more easily letting people in. "Look I realize things haven't been...easy...and I get it if you want to go…" I felt tears sting the sides of my eyes but I blinked them back. "Go?" Jace suddenly looked at me and his concern was overpowering. "Mari that's not, I mean I'm not, what I mean is-" he broke off and I was amazed at his inability to speak. Usually he had no trouble at all saying exactly what he thought. In fact finding the Off switch was usually the hard thing, but this time, something had him completely speechless. He was looking at the ground again, trying to pull his thoughts together. I gently put my hand on his and sent calming waves to him, hoping it would get his thoughts straight. He smiled slightly and his features softened a bit. "Thanks," he said, taking my hand in his other hand and squeezed gently. "Any time," I said. He sighed and then looked at me and I suddenly felt as if he was looking through me. I hated when people did that. I hated feeling like I was as transparent to them as they were to me. Hypocritical I know, but still. I squirmed a little and looked down to hide but Jace put a finger under my chin and raised my head so that I was looking into his eyes again. "Mari, I'm not trying to leave you. Exactly the opposite, actually. When you collapsed in the tunnel, and then wouldn't wake up, I felt like my world had ended. I was so scared. I fight demons and downworlders and all kinds of evil every day and have never been as afraid as I was today. If I had lost you, I don't know what I would have done. I love you, so much." He pulled me in for a tight hug. It was slightly awkward, given the position of our bodies, but I was so stunned I didn't care. It wasn't so much the words that stunned me, but the intense emotions coming from Jace. It was like he had opened the floodgates and was just letting it all come out. I felt anger, fear, hatred, and love. The kind of love you only read about or see in movies. A deep, powerful, never faltering love. What happened next was completely out of my control, and yet, for the first time in my life, I felt safe without it.

Jace was suddenly kissing me with a passion and need I had never felt before, and I was kissing him back with the same passion and need. He leaned me back, letting me lie on the bed and then lay down on top of me, kissing every inch of skin from my hairline to the collar of my shirt. I moaned and moved my hands down to lift his shirt up. I felt my hands touch skin and moved them up his back, not even bothering to take it slow. He sat up, allowing me to pull his shirt off entirely. I threw it on the floor next to the bed and kissed his chest hungrily. He grabbed the bottom of my shirt and yanked it up over my head and then wrapped his arms around my body. We rolled so that I was now on top and I started kissing my way down his body. I started at his neck and then made my way down his chest, slowly, letting my tongue taste every inch of skin. I wanted him. I needed him. In a way I had never before wanted or needed anyone, and I could feel Jace felt the same way. As I made my way to his belt, I felt strong arms pull me up and fling me onto my back. Jace was suddenly on top of me again and kissing my mouth. I opened my mouth to his and felt his tongue slide in. Our tongues moved together in and out of each other's mouths. Both our kisses grew stronger, hungrier, and more passionate with every second. I moved my arms around to Jace's back and dug my nails in. Jace threw his head back and let out an animalistic growl which only spurred me on even more. Jace reached around my back and undid my bra, taking it and tossing it across the room. He left a trail of kisses down my neck, ending at my breasts, before he began massaging and kissing them. I moaned in satisfaction and felt myself get very wet. He continued his ministrations, moving from one breast to the other, back and forth, as if trying to get me to climax before even getting to the good part. "Oh God! Jace!" I moaned, both pulling and pushing on his head, my body wanting to keep him where he was, my mind wanting him to move down. I felt a coil begin to tighten in the pit of my stomach and I was breathing so hard it felt like I wasn't breathing at all. "Not yet," Jace said as he looked up at my face. A evil smile played across his face. I growled at him. He moved and in one swift motion he had my pants and underwear off in one go. He slowly kissed his way up my legs, making a show of it and driving me crazy! I felt like I was going to explode! When he finally reached the spot I wanted him at he sucked in a breath. "God Mari, you are so wet darling. You really do need relief don't you?" he purred. "Yes!" I shouted and bucked my hips so he would touch me. He kissed me once, but that was all I needed. I felt the force of my orgasm hit me like freight train and I screamed in ecstasy, but Jace kept kissing me. Before I could fully come down off the first high, I was hit by another earth-shattering orgasm. I grabbed Jace's hair and pulled with what little strength I had. "Not fair," I managed to get out between gasping breaths. He laughed and kissed me, letting me taste myself. We moaned together. I flipped us so that he was lying on his back and moved to take his pants off. As I did I was met by a glorious sight. Jace was already ready for me. I lined our hips up and sank onto him slowly. I watched as he closed his eyes and threw his head back on the pillow. His hands gripped my sides and we slowly started to move together, both of us meeting each other in perfect harmony. It wasn't enough though. I wanted him deeper. I leaned forward and he growled as he slipped deeper inside me. Suddenly I was on my back again and he was ramming into me with such force I could feel the reverberations in my skull. It hurt, but it was the best kind of hurt. I felt that coil begin to tighten again and I could tell that Jace was almost there too. We both hit our climaxes at the same time, riding them out together. Jace collapsed on top of me and we both just lay there, breathing hard and coming down slowly. I kissed his neck and shoulders. "Wow, if that's the kind of 'welcome home' I can expect, I'm going to have more near-death experiences!" I said as I lay my head back on the pillow. "Don't you dare!" Jace growled into my neck. He began kissing me again softly. I laughed, which, given the fact that we were still connected, sent interesting vibrations through both of us. We looked at each other for a split second and then Jace was attacking me again.

ROSE

I laughed as I watched Jace carry Mari up the stairs to her apartment and then I turned to look at the men in front of me. "Shall we-" I was cut off as I felt excruciating pain shoot through my head. "Rose?!" Both Dwight and Duke yelled as I grabbed my head. "No!" I screamed as I realized what was going on. I pushed myself away from the table and away from my boys. They took a step towards me and I held out my hand. "Don't get too close…" I gritted out as I pushed back, trying to fight Mara as she barged through all the barriers I had set up around my mind. "She's...she's taking over. I can't hold her back. Run!" I screamed at Duke and Dwight as I collapsed to the floor, feeling all control of my body flee. Now let's see what I can do… I heard Mara whisper in my head. "Hello boys," she whispered and I could see them both jump back. It was as if I was watching this happen from outside my body. "Mara…" Duke whispered softly and my body nodded. I was a prisoner in my own body and all I could do was watch. It was sickening. "Get out of her!" Dwight yelled as he pulled Duke away from the table. Duke seemed to have frozen at the sound of Audrey's voice coming from my mouth and I felt my heart break. Mara had taken so much from him, and now she was trying to take me as well and I wouldn't go without a fight. I struggled against the spell that held me and Mara tsked. "Oh she is fighting hard against me…" she said as she walked towards the door of the Gull. Dwight was following her carefully, taser trained on her chest. "Let her go!" he said forcefully. "No…" Mara replied as she tightened her grip on my conciousness. "I don't think I will. I think I am going to hold onto this one for a while...and just think of what I can do with this body...and all this power!" she hissed as she formed a ball of blue flames in the palm of her hand.

Only it wasn't just blue now, it was corrupt and had veins of black running through it. NO! I cried out as she threw the flame at the bar and began to set the restuarant on fire. Please! I will do whatever you want, just stop! Don't hurt them! I begged. Tears were running down my face and both men looked at each other in confusion. "I may have control of her mind and body, but her consciousness still controls some of the emotions. She's pleading right now. Begging for me to leave you both alone. She promises to do whatever I need her to do as long as I leave you alone...Hmmm...Okay. But I leave this message. Free me and get my William back, or I will kill her. I will strip her of her magick and flay her alive for all of you to see and when I am done with her I will throw her into the hell I was imprisoned in for so many years…" With that, Mara walked my body out of the Gray Gull, leaving my two men staring out after me. I felt my heart break and I couldn't tell whose pain I was feeling anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**MARI**

Jace and I walked downstairs and back into the Gull, discussing the weather and how lovely the sun played on the water in front of the building, trying to hide our excitement. We were holding hands and when we got to the door, Jace, being the gentlemen, opened it for me and beckoned me through. "God, you're weird," I laughed walking backwards through the door, but then stopped short, feeling the tension levels in the bar rise and drop dramatically. Actually, a little overdramatically, if I was being honest. "Ok," I said "What did I-" I stopped mid-sentence as I turned and saw the destruction of the bar. "What the hell?" I asked not even looking at Duke and Dwight, still at the table they had been occupying when Jace and I had left an hour before. When I finally looked at both me, I felt them block their minds and I narrowed my eyes. "Where's Rose?" I asked. I reached out to feel her, but instead of the usual bright light that was Rose, I found nothing. Nothing in or around the Gull, nothing by the docks or the _Rouge, _nothing in her office or around Nathan. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Occasionally she could still hide from me when she wanted to, so instead of panicking, I walked over to the boys and focused all my energy on them. "What happened here?" I asked slowly, but still allowing my annoyance to thickly cover my voice. I figured there must have been a fight and I was going to get it out of one of them one way or the other. "Did one of you say something to Rose? Cause this-" I said pointing to the wreckage in the room, "isn't really her style. But if you said the right thing, well I'd like to think I've rubbed off on her as much as she has on me. And I really wouldn't put it passed her to do something like this." Neither Duke nor Dwight were looking at me and they both were blocking their minds from me. This only annoyed me further. I slammed my hands down on the table, cursing myself as I felt my muscles scream at me. "One of you is going to tell me what the hell happened here!" I yelled. Both men flinched a little. _Good, at least they know I mean business. _Duke opened his mouth to speak, but Dwight beat him to it. "We asked her about an ex boyfriend and she didn't want to talk about it. We pushed and she-" he pointed to the mess. I raised an eyebrow. There's no way Rose would do this over an ex boyfriend she didn't want to talk about. She'd just leave. But maybe after everything she'd been through in the last 48 hours, she had finally snapped. I relaxed a little. "We were actually just about to go find her and apologize," Duke said standing up and looking pointedly at Dwight. Ok, these boys were definitely hiding something from me, and the fact that they were hiding their thoughts as well was making me angry, but I wasn't going to find out from them so I decided to let them leave. "Ok, tell Rose I say hi," I said. "Will do," Dwight said and both men walked out of the Gull.

Jace sat down next to me as I watched the men get into Duke's jeep and drive off. "They are hiding something from me," I said watching them. "Something's up, and I don't like it." "Yeah, I get that feeling too, but what are you going to do?" Jace asked me, taking a sip from his water glass. "What every good investigator does. Reconstruct the crime scene." I stood up and flexed my muscles. Rose had taught me a simple spell that anyone could do if they knew how. This spell would show me what happened, like watching a movie reel before the sound is added. It was a good thing I could lip-read. I focused my mind on what I wanted to see. I spoke the incantation slowly, making sure I used the exact words Rose taught me. "I request that Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, bless this scrying glass. May all visions be pure and true. So mote it be." As the words finished I closed my eyes, expecting to see images of what happened, but instead I saw nothing. Just the black of the backs of my eyelids. I took a deep breath, hoping to calm my mind, but still nothing happened. From behind me I sensed Jace's curiosity and confusion. "So...anything?" he asked casually. I grunted and opened my eyes. "Shut up! You're distracting me." I shot at him. "You have no idea what you're doing do you?" he asked smiling. "I know exactly what I'm doing!" I said frustrated. "Magnus has access to a portal. I could call him-" Jace started but I cut him off. "I don't need Magnus. I can do this myself!" I shook my head annoyed and tried to remember what Rose had told me about this spell. I flipped through the memory of that conversation, like watching a movie on fast forward, looking for the right moments. When I found it, I watched and listened closely. _Close your eyes, say the spell, hold the object from the room-Oh yeah, forgot that bit. _I walked over to the bar and picked up a piece of broken glass. It looked like the remnants of a Jack Daniel's bottle. Duke was going to be mad about that. That bottle was practically full. I held it in my hand and said the spell again. "I request that Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, bless this scrying glass. May all visions be pure and true. So mote it be." My eyes were closed again and again I focused on what I wanted to see.

Again I saw only black. "Damn it!" I shouted. "Motherfuckingasspieceofshit! Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" I stomped my foot on the floor and threw the piece of glass clear across the bar. "Stupidmotherfuckingdamnstupidspellfuckingsonofabitch!" I shouted all in one breath. Jace looked mildly impressed but also bored. "I can always call-" he started. I looked at him narrowing my eyes until they were slits. "I don't need Magnus!" I said emphasizing every word. I stomped over to the bar and grabbed another piece of glass, this time from the remnants of a tequila bottle. _Damn! When I find Rose, I'm gonna make her buy me more of this! _"OW! Fucking son of a bitch!" I looked down at my hand and saw the line of blood welling up where the glass had cut my palm. I took the glass in the other hand and practically shouted at the top of my lungs, "I request Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, bless this scrying glass! May all visions be pure and true! So mote it be!"

This time when I closed my eyes, I finally saw what I had been waiting for. A vision of the bar came into my mind and I watched as the scene played out. At first it looked like Rose was having a fit and then a temper tantrum, but Rose didn't have temper tantrums. I looked closer, focusing on Rose, and I realized it wasn't Rose I was looking at. It was her body, but inside she was someone else. I replayed the scene again and watched her carefully. Then I saw it. Duke looked at Rose, but instead said Mara's name. Rose's mouth grinned and then I watched her destroy the bar.

When the vision ended it was like someone had thrown cold water on me. I opened my eyes suddenly and it felt like I couldn't breathe. I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds of the water outside. I matched my breathing to the sounds of it flowing in and out and was finally able to gain control again. I turned and looked at Jace who was standing, looking at me with concern. "Mara she, she's in Rose," I said slowly, trying to keep my breathing steady.

Suddenly Jace was in front of me with his arms wrapped tightly around me. I could hear his heart beat in his chest and I again tried to match my breathing to it. It worked and I was able to keep myself calm. "What are you going to do?" he asked, knowing full well I wasn't going to just sit back and let this bitch take my friend. I didn't have a plan yet, but the more I thought about it the more annoyed I became. My brother and Dwight knew and had kept it a secret from me. I didn't like people keeping secrets from me. It never worked out. "First of all, I'm gonna kick my brothers' asses!"

I stomped onto the _Rouge _knowing I'd find both boys here. Sure enough, Duke was leaning against the opposite railing and looked up suddenly when he heard my footsteps. "Mari what-" he started, trying to quickly hide his thoughts. "You knew!" I screamed at him. "You knew and you tried to hide it from me! What the hell Duke?" I marched up to him and was staring him in the face. "I'm, I'm sorry. We thought it would be better if you didn't know! We didn't want you getting involved!" He turned and started walking away. At this point I was pretty full up on my own anger and frustration, but I allowed myself to soak in everything that was coming from the boys, pretty much guaranteeing that Duke was not going to get out of this that easily. "You knew I'd find out one way or the other! You should know me well enough by now to know that I protect the ones I love!" "Exactly!" he spat at me. I stopped for a second, taking that in. Was he saying that he didn't tell me because he knew I'd go after Rose or was he saying that he was doing the same thing? Trying to protect me? That only made me angrier. "What the hell does that mean?" I shouted, following him to the bow of the boat. "You had no right to keep this from me! She's my best friend! She's like my sister! I deserved to know and I deserved to hear it from you!"

I felt myself pull my arm back and the next thing I knew I was laying an uppercut into Duke's chin. I felt his jaw snap shut and my hand hurt, but that didn't stop me. He staggered back and, for a split second, I thought he might just stand there and let me use him as a punching bag, but suddenly I was getting a fist to the face as well. My head snapped to the right and I felt pain shoot through my face. This was exactly what I was hoping for when I came here.

I threw another punch straight at Duke's stomach, connecting and causing him to double over. I pulled back and kicked out, hitting the backs of his knees with my leg. He went down hard, but got up quickly, punching at me from every direction. I blocked his punches and sent my elbow flying at his head. I heard it connect and he staggered back, just long enough for me to send him my frustration and anger, letting it fuel his own. As he began to feel that surge of anger, he ran at me, grabbing my waist and throwing me to the ground. I hit the ground with a crash and brought my knee up, just under Duke, kneeing him in the stomach sending him backwards. I rolled up and kicked out at him again, but he grabbed my foot and threw me against the wall. He pinned me to the wall, left arm at my throat, and brought his right arm back to punch my face. I grabbed a fistfull of his hair and pulled as hard as I could. I felt his arm come off of my throat just enough for me to move and instead of his fist connecting with the left side of my face, it hit the wall instead, so hard it left a slight dent. I rolled behind him and kicked his back with both my feet, sending him face first into the wall. He hit it and then turned around and ran at me again, sending punches and elbows flying. I duked around most of them, but he managed to get me a few times. Twice in the arms, once in the chest, and once on my face.

By this point, Dwight had come up on deck to see what the hell was going on. "What the-? What the hell are you guys doing?" he yelled. I didn't have either the time or inclination to stop fighting and explain what was going on so I sent him waves of frustration and anger, knowing he'd join in, at the very least to protect Duke. I was right. I watched as his level or frustration rose and he came at me like a charging bull. A small voice in the back of my mind told me that taking on both Duke and Dwight at the same time was a mistake of epic proportions, but right now I didn't care. I was pissed and needed to take it out of somebody, and the two biggest guys in Haven were a pretty good choice.

As Dwight came at me I ducked and moved to the left, sending him straight into Duke. I laughed to myself. As he hit Duke I roundhouse kicked him in his back, sending the two to the deck. They hit hard and the sound it made briefly caused me to worry that Duke's boat might sink if we kept this up. I shook my head not wanting to worry about that right now. Both men were back on their feet and were coming at me. Dwight strong armed me and again I kicked out at him. He was expecting it this time and moved so that I kicked air instead of his gut. He moved behind me as Duke came at me from the front and I was cornered. Dwight's large arms wrapped around me and held tight while Duke grabbed my fists and held them to my sides. "What…" Duke tried start, but he was breathing too hard. "What the hell is wrong with you Mari?!" he finally managed to get out. I struggled against them both. I was breathing hard too and didn't want to answer him. I held my mouth in a stubborn line and looked over Duke's right shoulder. Duke sighed and forced me to look at him. "You just woke up out of what we thought was going to be a coma. We just got you back and we just got Rose back and then everything went to hell again. We were caught off guard and needed to process it between the two of us first. We were going to tell you…" he trailed off, glancing at Dwight for help. "We were going to tell you once we had some form of plan. We have no idea _HOW _Mara is controlling Rose, nor do we know why. We wanted to have some information before we told you," he explained, trying to make me see their reasoning. "Yeah right!" I spat at Duke. "Did it ever occur to you that I might be able to get that information, since I can, you know, READ MINDS AND ALL!?" I yelled at them, still pissed as hell that they had kept me in the dark.

Dwight let me go and he moved to stand with Duke, resting his hand on Duke's shoulder. "Mari...we didn't want to hurt you. We wanted you to have a few moments of happiness and relaxation before getting thrown back into hell," he said softly. "I know you may not like our methods, but we tried for you. I'm sorry." Duke nodded and then moved down the stairs to get some ice. Dwight looked after him and then turned back to me. "When you're done being angry with us, we will be downstairs trying to figure things out. Good luck reading her mind though. With the connection between the three of us, we are generally able to read each other's minds, but the second Mara took over, she was blank. Rose isn't there anymore and we have no clue what Mara is. Just...be careful," he said finally, kissing me on the cheek gently, before following my brother down the stairs and into the state rooms.

I threw my arms up and stomped off to the railing. "Hmph!" I said out loud. Dwight's words were beginning to sink in and I was trying like hell to stop them. I still wanted to be angry. I still wanted to kick both their asses. Why did everyone suddenly think I needed protection? It's not like I lived in a nunnery before coming to Haven. I'd lived a very dangerous life. One which most people would have thought impossible. My life had been like a Bond movie before Haven, full of excitement and danger. This wasn't any different. _Except this time you have people you care about involved. People you want to protect. People who want to protect you. _I hated that little voice in my head. The one that sounded like my mother. She'd been dead for 20 years and yet she was still giving me advice. I "humph"ed again and thought more about what Dwight had said, and then realized something he clearly hadn't. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I guess I was going to have to let go of my anger after all. I turned and walked down the stairs to the stateroom, slowly because every step shot epic amounts of pain through me. I put both my hands on either wall next to and took each step one at a time.

"You know," I said reaching the last step. "The reason you could hear Rose in the first place was _because_ of your connection. If Mara possessed her, it would have automatically broken the connection and you'd stop hearing her." I moved to sit down at the table. "Ow, fuck, ow!" I said as I sat down in one of the chairs. "My trouble," I winced as I finally sat, "doesn't work like that. I can hear everything and everyone all the time. Unless they are actively blocking me. As far as I know, Mara doesn't know about me. She won't know that she needs me to block me. I couldn't find her before because I was looking for Rose, but now that I know to look for Mara…" I trailed off as my head started to pound and my shoulders started to ache. I put my head on the table, letting the cool slab ease my pain for a second. "You know…" I heard Dwight drawal from the nearby couch where he was holding an ice pack to Duke's face. "I should just let you sulk in pain for a bit so you learn your lesson about picking fights. But I want to find Rose as soon as possible, so there is some extra strength Ibuprofen in the cabinet to your left."

I slowly raised my head and looked at the cabinet. I was going to have to get up to get the Ibuprofen, which according to Dwight's mind, was on the top shelf. So not only would I have to stand up and walk, I'd have to reach. Dwight was enjoying this a little too much. I groaned and slowly rotated myself so that my legs were out from under the table. I gingerly pushed myself up letting excessive profanity spill out of my mouth. When I was standing I slowly put one leg in front of the other and made the three steps to the cabinet. I could hear Dwight snickering behind me, but I refused to look at him or ask for help. I took a deep breath and reached up to open the door. A shot of pain ran the length of my arm all the way to my neck. I winced, but pulled the cabinet open. I saw the bottle on the top shelf, just out of reach. "And people think I'm cruel and vindictive," I growled under my breath. I reached up and this time the pain shot across my neck and down my back. I stretched as far as I could, but couldn't reach the bottle. I took another deep breath and stood up on my toes. My fingers found the bottle just in time as I nearly collapsed against the cabinet. "You ok?" Dwight asked from behind me, still amused. "Yeah, sure, just dandy!" I said through gritted teeth. I sat back down at the table. "I know you're enjoying this, but would you mind getting me a glass of water?" I asked him as I opened the bottle and took out four pills. Dwight laughed to himself, but got up and got me a glass, filled it with water, and handed it to me. "Thanks," I said. I popped the pills in my mouth and swallowed a gulp of water. I put the glass down and put my left hand on my right shoulder, rubbing it and rotating my neck, trying to release the muscles.

"Feel better?" Dwight asked as he moved back to where Duke was laying and began to gently run his fingers through Duke's hair. "Sure," I said. He smiled and continued until we both heard Duke's breathing slow and even out. "Can you hear Mara?" he asked softly so he didn't wake Duke up. There was a note of desperation in his voice and I realized exactly how scared and worried they both were about Rose. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to focus. This time, instead of focusing on Rose, a voice I knew extremely well, I focused on voices I didn't know. Given that Haven was such a small town, these voices were fairly few in number, even though I didn't socialize. I heard one woman obsessively thinking about her cat, and closed the door on her, knowing that it wasn't Mara. There were a few men fishing out on a boat in the harbor and a young boy watching clouds up on the hill. I kept scanning until I suddenly found what I was looking for. It was a voice I didn't know, or at least, sort of didn't know.

It was Audrey's voice, kind of, but there was something darker and more sinister about it. I was always struck by the fact that a person's voice could be changed based on how they lived their lives. You could always tell a person's true character by listening to the way they spoke. Or as least I could. Mara was thinking about that morning and about how she'd been torturing Rose. "I can hear her," I told Dwight. "She's out in the forest near the lighthouse. She doesn't want to be in town because she's afraid people will notice, even though she's in Rose's body." Dwight nodded tensely. "Is she giving any clues as to how she is able to take over Rose's body? Or anything like that? Rose mentioned that it was because they were both witches, but I just...I don't think that's what this is…" he trailed off and I could feel the helplessness that was flowing through him. He hated feeling helpless. I knew the feeling. "Hold on, that's gonna take some digging." I focused once again on Mara, but this time I flipped through her thoughts like flipping through a book. I had to be careful. Most people never realized when this was happening, or at most, they felt like they were being watched, but someone who was in touch with their mind, the way a witch would be, would know exactly what was happening if I wasn't careful.

"Holy shit…" I said quietly finding exactly what Dwight had been looking for. "I know why Mara's connection to Rose is so strong." Dwight waited for me to continue with bated breath. Duke had stirred at the tension in his lovers' body and was looking between us in confusion. "What's going on?" he asked softly, but Dwight was still staring at me. "Why?" he asked softly. "She's...she's Rose's great grandmother…" I said, still not quite believing it. There was absolute silence after my statement and the boys just stared at me. "Why wouldn't she have told us?" Duke finally said and Dwight just shook his head. "I'm not sure...but for now the thing we need to focus on is how to get her back. Any ideas Mar?" I staggered for a minute, still trying to process what I had just learned. "Um..." I started, not paying attention to what I was saying. I shook my head and actually tried to focus. "We could try doing what Rose did to me...maybe?" I said slowly. "Granted, it would take holding her down and actually knowing what the hell Rose did...you don't know do you?" I asked hopefully. They both shook their heads. "All we know is that she said she was going into your mind to try and pull you back and that she spent a good 45 minutes with her hands pressed to your temples before you both woke up," Duke said. "Maybe…" Dwight paused for a moment of thought. "Maybe we can call Magnus Bane and see if he knows?" I grunted. Why did everyone want to call that guy? One small little favor and suddenly he was on everybody's "go to" list? "She's your...girlfriend…" I said, pausing trying to find the right term. "You should do whatever you think is best." I stood up and immediately regretted it. I fell back and leaned heavily against the wall, a sudden wave of vertigo hitting me. "You okay?" Dwight asked as he moved to help me stand. "Maybe you should lay down for a minute." I groaned but knew he was probably right. "Yeah ok," I said. Dwight gently picked me up and carried me to their bedroom. He layed me down gently on the bed, kissed my forehead, and I let darkness claim me.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

**ROSE**

I was still a captive in my own body as Mara marched through the forest near the lighthouse. _You'll never get William back!_ I shouted at her and she chuckled. "Oh I think you underestimate your lovers my darling girl. They will do anything for you, including bringing my wonderful husband back from that hell we were imprisoned in," she replied as she finally came to rest on a small boulder. "We used to come here all the time. This was our circle. This is where it all started. Where we created the first trouble." I cringed against the memories she was showing me. Her joy at the destruction and pain she had caused was sickening, but the depth of her love for William was astounding. He was her muirn beartha dan. I could feel it. They were soulmates. _It seems it was the curse of my ancestors to either be evil or to be bound to evil _I murmured softly. "Whatever do you mean darling?" Mara asked in interest. I showed her the memories of Maeve Riordan, my mother, and her muirn beartha dan, Ciaran MacEwan. I showed her how Maeve was already married to a wonderful man named Angus who took her and her child in, even though the child wasn't his. And how Ciaran, in his anger over her not being willing to leave Angus and practice dark magick, locked her, her husband, and her newborn baby girl, Morgan, in a barn and burnt it to the ground. Morgan was the only survivor. _My sister, Morgan, was finally able to defeat Ciaran, but it came with consequences none of us could have foreseen. _I showed her the memories of Morgan's husband Hunter being kidnapped by one of Ciaran's daughters, Iona, from his first wife. He was held and tortured for 16 years and we were under the assumption he was dead, until Iona set another plan into motion and showed us where he was while simultaneously starting a Dark Wave to kill our village. We succeeded in not only saving Hunter, but also dismantling the Dark Wave before it destroyed the whole village. The long road of rebuilding trust and life for Morgan and Hunter and their daughter Moira was hard, but they made it work. I hoped that maybe by showing Mara all this, she would let me go.

"Interesting," Mara murmured. "I seem to have birthed a very interesting line of women. Unfortunately I have every intention of annihilating you…" she laughed and I froze. It didn't matter what Duke and Dwight did, I realized. I was going to die, but I also knew that I could potentially take Mara with me. If her consciousness was in my body, then it wasn't in hers. If we got rid of that body, _Nathan forgive me_, she would be trapped in me.

I concentrated as hard as I could on Mari's mind, hoping to find her. She was asleep so this would seem like a dream to her. _Mari! _I said urgently and I felt her mind open to me. _Rose?! Where are you?! We are worried sick! We think we may have found a way to get Mara out of your body…_ she began, but I cut her off. _It won't work Mar. No matter what we do there is only one way this is going to end for me. I know that and Mara knows that. What I need you to do is get rid of her body. I know Nathan will be pissed, but Audrey will understand. Once Mara doesn't have a body to return to I can take care of the rest. _Mari was silent as her mind reviewed what I had told her and just as I had hoped, her semi-conscious mind didn't pick up on my true implications. _Okay. Where will you be? _She asked. _I will do my best to keep Mara occupied in the forest until you dispose of her body. Once she feels it, she will come to the lighthouse. You have to be there to close the door, but get Duke and Dwight out of there before we arrive. I can't have them near her. _I said matter of factly, hiding the rest of the truth. Once again her semi-conscious mind worked in my favor and she didn't notice. _I have to go for now. I will see you soon..._I whispered before fleeing back into the prison of my own body.

**MARI**

I woke up slowly, feeling every muscle in my body ache. "Ow, fuck!" I groaned, rolling over and sitting up carefully. "This is why you don't pick fights after you've been momentarily possessed," said Duke just outside the room. I stuck my tongue out at him and threw my legs over the side of the bed. "Especially with your older, stronger, more experienced, brother," Duke said again, sticking his head around the corner of the door. "Wow, you look awful Mar," he said chuckling slightly. "You should see _your_ face," I said. He had one black eye and a bruise on his cheek bone. I could see the beginnings of bruises all along his arms and knew what the rest of him must look like. "And I totally had you!" I added. I stood up slowly. Thankfully, my legs were more cooperative than they had been earlier that day and they held me. I turned and slowly walked back into the small dining area, quickly looking at the mirror in the tiny bathroom as I passed. Duke was right. I did look awful. There were dark bruises on both my cheeks and I had a black right eye. I looked down at my arms and saw bruises all along them. I pulled my shirt up and saw even more bruises all along my sides and chest. My butterfly was quickly becoming la maripossa azul instead of la maripossa negra. "You did not. I was letting you win," Duke said. "Bull shit!" I said and punched him in the arm for emphasis. "Ow!" he said as I went to sit down next to Dwight at the table. "How did you sleep?" Dwight asked me. "Fine," I said. Duke handed me a glass of water and I gulped it down. As I did I suddenly remembered the dream I'd been having. I slammed the glass down on the table and stood up suddenly. "What? Mari is everything alright?" Dwight asked in concern. "Rose, she talked to me in my sleep. She told me how to get rid of Mara!" I was halfway up the stairs before either man could follow me. I reached the deck and found Jace sitting in a chair, his head tilted back, eyes closed, clearly enjoying the warmth of the sun on his face. "Jace?" I asked. "When did you get here? How long was I out?" He opened his eyes and looked at me, smiling and I saw my reflection in his mind. "You look awful!" he said laughing. "You should see the other guy," I said smiling, which was painful. "I did. You look worse," Jace said matter-of-factly. "You were only out about an hour," he said. "The boys told me what you did. You know I could have helped?" I rolled my eyes. "I didn't need your help. I was doing just fine on my own." Jace came over and put a finger under my chin so he could get a better look at my face. "Clearly," he said.

Duke and Dwight had made it up the stairs to the deck and were looking at me frantically. "What do you mean?" Duke asked me. "How do we get rid of Mara?" Dwight asked almost at the same time. I put my hand up, silencing them. I really didn't need another headache right now. "She told me that if we get rid of Mara's body, Rose could take care of the rest..." I said trailing off a little at the end as I considered what she had meant. I had a feeling I knew but I couldn't let either Duke or Dwight know. "What does that mean?" Dwight asked as if he could read my thoughts. I shook my head. "I don't know, but you know Rose, I'm sure she's got something up her sleeve." "That's what worries me," Dwight said quietly. Duke took his hand. "I'm sure she's got everything under control. She knows she can't leave us." Duke smiled slightly and I caught a glimpse of the last time Rose had tried to be self-sacrificing. "Ew…" I said and turned away. "Look, we need to get to the lighthouse. Now." I said.

As Duke and Dwight made their way down the gangplank to the dock I grabbed Jace's hand, holding him back. He looked at me quizzically. "Jace, once we get rid of Mara's body I need you to get the guys out. Fast!" I said urgently, hoping he wouldn't ask any questions. I was rewarded by his quick nod. I felt Duke heading back to the _Rouge _so I pulled Jace in for a passionate kiss so that Duke wouldn't suspect anything. As he came up the gangplank I heard him cough once. "Guys, I get that you can't keep your hands off of each other, but Mari, you made this seem like it was urgent so…" Duke said. I smiled as I broke off the kiss and turned my head to look at Duke. I shrugged and said, "Sorry." Duke shook his head and rolled his eyes as he turned and walked back onto the dock. "Thank you," I said to Jace and we both walked off the _Rouge. _

When we got to the lighthouse I was struck by the sudden feeling of foreboding. I stopped walking for a minute and everyone turned to look at me. "Mari?" Duke asked. "What's up? What's wrong?" I turned to Jace and saw that he could feel it too. Something about this place felt weird. Dark. It was the feeling you get when walking down a dark alley and night. You can feel that something is off, even if you never see anything. I shivered involuntarily. "Nothing," I said and began walking forward again. "This place just gives me the creeps."

As we opened the door a gust of cold air greeted us. We all shivered and I felt Dwight and Duke look at each other. Jace went in first and opened the trap door that led down to the tunnel and the cave. Dwight went down first and then helped me down. Duke followed. It was dark in the tunnel. Darker than I remembered it being the first time. I couldn't see my hand right in front of my face. I heard Jace's boots hit the floor and suddenly there was a bright flash of light as he activated his witchlight. We all covered our eyes at the sudden brightness. "Sorry," Jace said as we all blinked. "Guess I should have sent this down with Mari." He held the light up high so that the blaze illuminated the whole tunnel. "Alright," I said. "Let's do this once and for all. Again." I heard Jace laugh a little as we made our way down the tunnel.

When we got to the entrance of the cave I could see Mara's body lying on the floor. It looked like she was just asleep, but I knew better. _Okay, _I jumped as Rose's voice breathed into my head. _I only have a limited amount of time before she realizes that I am sheltering your presence. This is the spell, Oh gods and goddesses hear me please. Please make this body unseen by all eyes, Shield her from sight and hide her in clearness. This is my will so mote it be. You need to say it while holding Audrey's hand and it should work. Here is my magick…_ she said softly and I felt a tingling begin in my fingers and then slowly move up my arms until it filled my entire body. I jolted at the feeling and everyone looked at me. "Rose," I said softly and they all nodded. _Once this is all over go into the bedroom on the _Rouge, _open my jewelry box and pull up the false bottom. In the compartment you will find a small bottle filled with light. That is a piece of Audrey's soul. There is also an incantation that you must recite. This should return Audrey to her body forever. No more Barn characters, no more Mara. It will be her forever. Can you do that? _I nodded my head, but then, realizing she couldn't actually see me said _Yes,_ through our connection. _Just do me a favor. Don't send Mara's sorry ass into the void until I get back here. I have a few things I'd like to say to that bitch face to face. _I could hear Rose laughing softly in my head and I couldn't help but smile. _You can say anything you want to before you go help Audrey. Mara has to go back into the void before you can perform the spell...Hurry...she's starting to fight my illusion..._and with that Rose was gone. I recited the spell to myself once and then ran across the cave to where Audrey's body was lying on the floor. I grabbed her hand and recited the spell. I felt a strange pulse go through both our bodies and suddenly the air directly around Audrey's body began to shimmer slightly.

Suddenly the earth trembled beneath our feet and I knew Mara had realized we were here. I turned to the boys. "Quick! Get Audrey's body out of here! Take her back to the Gull, to my apartment!" "But-" Duke and Dwight both started together. "I'll meet you guys there," I said. "Go, everything will be fine!" I knew I was lying but they had to leave and if they suspected for moment what was about to happen, they'd stay and both be killed. Jace moved forward and picked up Audrey's body, lifting her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Come on guys, I'm gonna need your help getting her out of the lighthouse." Duke and Dwight seemed to believe what I was saying, but whether they actually did, or just wanted to, I couldn't tell, but either way, all three of them left and ran back up the tunnel. I went and stood against a wall, bracing myself for what was about to happen.

**ROSE**

I took a deep breath and focused solely on the binding spell that Mara had on me, slowly undoing each individual thread as Mara, in my body, stalked into the cave. "Where is it?!" she shrieked. "Where is my body?!" she spun around looking for it. I kept working quickly knowing that Mari had a few choice words for her, but also knowing that she didn't stand a chance against Mara in the long run. "Yeah, you're never gonna find it," came a voice from the corner of the cave. I looked and could just make out the outline of Mari, learning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, looking cool as a cucumber. "Look, you don't know me, so the fact that you thought you could mess with my friends and get away with it, well, that's not your fault, but here's the thing. I've got a thing about people who think they can control other people. I knew this guy once, he thought he could control me, and well...let's just say it didn't end well for him. And he was just a measly little human." Mara scoffed and I felt her trying to draw on her powers. "You are a measly little human darling, and by the look of things, annihilating you will be easy!" she cried, flinging her hands out, only to find that they did very little damage. I had given most of our combined magick to Mari to use for the two spells she needed to accomplish and the other bit was tied up in undoing and reversing her binding spell. "Wh-what is this madness?" she screamed in confusion and Mari only grinned back. She tsked and smiled. "Performance anxiety? Don't worry we all get it." Mara growled and once again tried to summon magick only to find that she was slowly losing control of my body. Mari started to walk around the edges of the cave. "Did you really think we'd let you take Rose? You really don't pay attention do you? Rose has an overprotective pirate, a sasquatch, a cousin who can't feel physical pain, a shadowhunter, and me, the excessively overprotective chick who will fight tooth and claw to make sure her family never knows what true pain is. You really picked the wrong witch to pick on bitch. The way I see it, you have two choices," Mari continued to walk around the cave. "One, you get the hell out of Rose's body and voluntarily go back to the hell you can from or two, I send you, in Rose's body, back to the hell you came from. Now clearly, I would prefer if you did the first. I happen to be rather fond of that girl, but I've killed loved ones before. I can do it again." Nothing in Mari's voice betrayed her true feelings. She sounded cold and distant, almost as if this was all a game to her. I knew she could talk her way out of anything. This was one of the reasons I had let her stay here. I knew she was hoping Mara would fall for it. Mara laughed. "Oh you sweet thing...as if you could toss me back into that hell…" she started before I broke through the binding spell and reversed it.

"She won't have to Mara...I will," I hissed. I could hear her screaming in anger at being bound, but I tuned it out as I turned to Mari. "You figured it out?" I whispered softly, knowing by her earlier speech that she knew what I was planning on doing. "It's you. You have a really weird thing for self-sacrifice. I mean really, you should see someone about that. I'm not entirely sure Duke and Dwight want to share you anymore than they already have too, and really, self-sacrifice is not the best partner." She smiled trying to keep her tone light, but I could feel her anger, disappointment, and fear. "Mari, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will _always_ love you. But this is something that I have to do. If she goes back and William goes back then I can kill them and the Troubles will end. Tell the boys...tell them I'm sorry, so sorry, but I'm okay. And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Mari, the hardest thing in this world...is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me. Don't close yourself off and don't run away. I will try and find my way back...but I don't know how long it'll take. Give this," I pulled out a sealed letter addressed to Duke and Dwight and pushed it into her hands. "To them. And tell them…" I paused as I tried to fight my emotions. Mara's screams were getting louder and I was running out of time. "Tell them I love them both so much. I will see you again!" I promised. "Now open the door...please…" I felt the tear rolling down my face, but I knew that this was how it had to be. Mari nodded, allowing herself, for the first time, to cry in front of me. She brought out the book and held it over the middle of the Guard symbol on the floor. The floor began to shake and the door slowly slid open. I slowly stepped forward. Mara was fighting me tooth and nail. She was terrified, but I held her at bay. "Thank you Mari," I whispered and then I took the final step and flung myself through the door and into the void.

**MARI**

I watched helpless as my best friend and sister threw herself into the hole in the floor. I knew that this was how it had to be, but a part of me wanted to jump in and get her back. As the door began to close the whole cave began to shake uncontrollably. I suddenly realized that sending Mara through the door had caused some sort of temporal shift, _Where the hell did I get that from?_ I suddenly thought. Before I could figure it out though, the ground heaved and I was thrown onto my ass. "God DAMN it!" I shouted. "Why am I the one that keeps getting beat up today?" I asked as I rolled over and got back on my feet. The ground heaved again but this time I was ready for it. I threw my arms out to steady myself and then ran like a bat out of hell for the tunnel and the lighthouse door. As I got to the tunnel I turned and saw the cave collapsing in on itself behind me. As I watched in horror, the collapsing began to make it's way toward the tunnel. "Oh shit! You have GOT to be kidding me!" I growled. I turned and ran as best I could up the tunnel to the stairs. Rock began falling all around me and as I climbed up, I suddenly felt the stairs give way. I grabbed onto the rim of the trapdoor just in time as the stairs fell away, leaving me hanging on for dear life. "Could this day get any worse?" I asked through gritted teeth. I could feel the tunnel collapsing behind me. My palms were sweaty, making holding on difficult. I tried to pull myself up, but the vibrating going through the ground was making it more challenging than I had anticipated. The pain in my arms was also making it a challenge. "Ok Mar, come on, you can do this! It's just like that in Russia...only instead of being chased by palace guards, you're about to be buried under miles of rock. Come on, you can do this!" I swung my feet and found the wall. I braced my feet against it and heaved myself up through the trapdoor. As I pulled myself through it I felt the floor of the lighthouse start to give way. I growled, pulling my legs up after me and rolling onto the floor. I jumped up and grabbed the door to the lighthouse just as I heard a deafening crack above me. I looked up and saw the roof of the lighthouse caving in. As the lighthouse began to crumble around me I threw myself through the door and onto the rocks outside, landing hard on my stomach. _Great, more bruises! _I heard another crack and covered my head as bits of the lighthouse exploded behind me.

After a few minutes it was quiet and I looked behind me at the place where the lighthouse used to be. "Guess they're gonna have to rebuild it. Again," I said as I got up and dusted myself off. "What the hell?" I heard and looked up. Nathan was standing on the rocks in front of me staring at the spot where the lighthouse used to be. "Uh…" I said, trying to come up with an explanation. "Where's Audrey?" Nathan said looking at me with fear. I took a breath. That one was actually the easiest to explain. "She's at the Gull in my apartment with Duke, Dwight, and Jace," I said, still breathing hard. "She's alive?" Nathan asked, his voice full of hope. "Sort of," I said, trying to sidestep the obvious issue. "Her body is safe, but I need to stop by the _Rouge _and get something from Rose's jewelry box-" the minute I said Rose's name, Nathan's head snapped up. "Rose, where's Rose?" he asked. I cursed inwardly. "I'll explain later, but right now we need to go." I hobbled across the rocks with Nathan following behind. We got into his truck and headed for the _Rouge. _

Thirty minutes later we were back in my apartment and I had the bottle Rose had told me about. Audrey's body was lying on my bed. The tension in the room was insane and I almost cleared everyone out, but that was going to take more time and explaining, so I ignored everyone and walked over to Audrey's body. I took the vial out of my pocket and opened it. I poured the contents over her and spoke the incantation quietly. "Oh gracious Goddess and God, Relieve her of the negatives, clean her body of evil, and make her pure once again." I waited and felt the entire room suck in a collective breath as they waited.

Suddenly I saw Audrey's chest move up and down and her eyelids fluttered. "What?" she began as she opened her eyes. "Audrey?" Nathan asked as he ran to the bed. Duke looked up from where he was sitting and then moved to the bed as well. As everyone moved closer, I moved away, walking over to the tiny kitchen and staring out the window. This crisis had been averted, but I knew what was coming. It was only a matter of time. I watched as Nathan, Duke, and Dwight took turns hugging Audrey and saying how happy they were that she was back. Nathan wouldn't let her go. Even as the other two men moved to hug Audrey, he kept his hand in hers, refusing to ever let her go again. "What happened?" Audrey asked the room. Nathan looked at her. "You were gone. Mara took over your body and you were gone. But then Mari brought you back." Audrey looked confused. "Mari? You mean Rose," she said and looked around, looking for Rose. "No, he means me," I said quietly. "But how? Where's Rose?" Audrey asked in confusion.

Suddenly everyone looked at me. I could feel their eyes on my back. Duke spoke first. "Mari," he said trying to cover the anger and worry in his voice. "Where's Rose?" I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I knew what I had to do so I braced myself, reliving every moment of what happened in the cave and shoving it into Duke and Dwight's minds. As the memory came to an end I turned and ran out the door. I could feel both men go through the full gamut of emotions and didn't want to be around for the fallout. I ran as hard as I could, letting the emotions I'd been holding back since the cave finally take me. I wasn't even sure where I was going, but I knew I had to get out. Out of the apartment, out of Haven.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

**MARI**

I had managed somehow to let Jace convince me to stay in Haven after the fallout. He had caught up with me after I ran. I was halfway out of town when he found me, figuring where I'd go. He told me that I should stay and try to make it work with everyone. That everyone would understand and that I didn't have to run every time I got scared anymore. I wanted him to be right, so after a lot of screaming and yelling and hysterical crying, I let him take me back to the apartment. It was completely empty when we got back, which was a good thing, because I was exhausted. I kicked off my shoes and crawled into bed, not even bothering to take my clothes off. I felt Jace wrap his arms comfortingly around me and then I fell into a dreamless sleep. Rose's last gift to me.

The next few days were hell. Duke wouldn't even be in the same room with me and every time he came into the Gull I had to leave the apartment. I could feel his anger, annoyance, and disappointment through the floor and it was just too much for me. If there was one thing I still couldn't handle, it was feeling someone's disappointment in me. It was one hundred times worse than any other feeling you could have for a person. Disappointment caused relationships to change. You couldn't look at a person the same way, couldn't think about them the same way. Everything about them had changed somehow, and yet nothing had changed. I had hoped Jace would be right, that after a few days, things would die down and everyone would forgive me, but it had been almost a week now, and everyone was just as hurt as they had been when I told them.

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to leave and this time I wasn't coming back. Duke didn't want to be around me and Jace, well I knew no matter how much he loved Haven, he'd follow me eventually. I knew it was selfish, but that's how you survive. That's how I'd survived my entire life. This was no different. I had planned it all. I was going to leave tonight, after Jace had fallen asleep. I'd pack up my stuff, leave him a note on how to find me, and then I'd leave. Easy as that. Jace might be mad at me for not telling him, but my note would explain that this way he could say goodbye in his own way and time and that I'd wait for him where ever I ended up. But for now, I had to wait. It was only 5 and the Gull would be open for four more hours tonight, which meant that Duke would be there until 10. I spent most of my days sitting up on the lookout, staring across the water, half hoping I'd see or hear Rose. But no one ever came up here, which was one of the reasons I liked it so much. It was quiet and peaceful. Two things I didn't get much of these days. What everyone seemed to not understand was that I was hurting just as much as they were. She was my best friend, my sister, and I had to be the one that sent her to God only knows where with the huge chance of never seeing her again. This hurt, in a way that nothing else ever would. Because I was responsible for this. No matter what anyone said or thought, I was the one to blame for this. I couldn't stop it, no matter how hard I'd tried. And everyone I knew hated me for it as much as I hated myself. Ironically, this was what I had wanted my whole life, but now that I had it…

"Mari," A voice behind me made me jump. Dwight had managed to sneak up on me. A feat, considering it meant hiding both your thoughts and emotions while not appearing like a void in space. Rose clearly taught him well. He came and sat down next to me on the bench. I didn't say anything. "I know that you think running away is going to help," he began slowly. "But it won't. Mari, you can feel the emotions coming off of Duke, but he's blocking his thoughts isn't he?" I scoffed. "That's probably a good thing. The last thing I need is to hear what he's thinking!" He sighed. "Then hear it from me," he said softly. "He's pissed. Not at you, but at himself. He's pissed because, despite the fact that Rose is gone and we don't know if she will ever be coming back, he can't help but feel relieved that it wasn't you. At least in this case he still has me, but if he had lost you it would have completely devastated him." I turned to look at Dwight. "Are you insane? He just lost the love of his life and you're trying to tell me he's glad it wasn't me?!" "Yes. Because he only has ONE sister. He has TWO loves of his life. One of whom happens to be an extremely powerful witch. And if anyone can make it back from that place, it's Rose. So yeah, he's upset over Rose being gone, we both are, but we haven't given up hope of seeing her again sometime soon. If we had lost you, I don't know if any of us would have survived it." I felt a pang go through me as my brain registered his use of the word "we". "But...how can you not all hate me? I hate myself…" I asked quietly. Dwight wrapped his arms around me gently and pulled me close. "You did exactly what none of us would have been able to do. You trusted Rose with her decision. It's why she asked you and not me or Duke to be there. She knew that, given your past, you could make it believable and make Mara drop her guard and open the door. She also knew that you would let her go. She knew that you trusted her enough to let her go. Don't hate yourself for trusting your best friend," he softly. "But Duke...I can feel he is disappointed in me, and don't try to tell me it's not here. I feel it, I know that's what it is." Dwight laughed softly. "Oh it's there, but it's not towards you. It's towards himself and towards Rose. See...I'm the one who can think things through clearly given some time. Duke sees things differently from the rest of us. He looks at this situation and is disappointed that Rose didn't at least tell us what was going to happen. He is disappointed because every time he looks up and sees you, he half expects to see her with you. It's not directed at you, but directed at her and at himself for getting his hopes up." I took a deep breath, but before I was going to completely accept what Dwight was saying I had one more question. "Than why won't he be around me?" "He's trying to block his emotions so he doesn't hurt you, but he's not very good at it. He's completely ruled by his emotions. And while I love him for it, it causes some problems now and then. Like right now. He wants to be the radio silence he knows you need, like what Rose was, so he can help you heal and get through your hurt, but he can't control his emotions, so he tries to avoid you so he doesn't cause you to hurt worse." I laughed. "Well clearly that's been working well," I said, letting enormous amounts of sarcasm pour out of my mouth. "So what now?" I asked. "Well, I guess the next thing to do is to talk to Duke…" I sighed. I wasn't looking forward to this. As much as I trusted Dwight, I was still wary about being within 100 yards of my brother.

We walked into the Gull 10 minutes later and I was immediately hit with Duke's emotional torrent. I stopped short and turned around. "I can't do this," I said, attempting to leave. Dwight moved so that he was standing directly in my exit path and put his hand on my shoulder. "Yes, you can, and you will." I took a deep breath. "Why do you have to be so big?" I asked under my breath. I felt Dwight laugh. "You can do this Mari. Whether either of you wants to admit it, you need each other and you need to talk. Please, if not for me, do it for Rose…" _Oh so not fair bringing her into this!_ I huffed and rolled my eyes. I turned and then suddenly remembered the letter sitting in my jacket upstairs. "Hey Dwight, there's something...I meant to give it to you and Duke before but...it's in the right pocket of the jacket hanging on the wall by the door." He looked at me in confusion, but nodded and pushed me towards Duke, before turning and heading up the stairs.

I stood for a minute awkwardly in the middle of the Gull. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. This was new. I mean I was used to having all eyes on me, but usually it was because I was wearing a stunning dress. This time, it was because I was just standing in the middle of the restaurant looking awkward. _This is ridiculous_. _Ok, just do it. _I walked up to the bar, right in front of Duke. He looked up when I reached the bar and suddenly felt him pull away. "Mari what-" he started roughly. "Dwight says we need to talk," I said slightly petulant. If this ended badly I didn't want Duke to think that this was my idea. Duke raised an eyebrow and looked around for Dwight. "Mari I can't talk right now, we are kinda busy, if you hadn't noticed. Maybe later," Duke said as he dried some glasses and put them away. I growled low to myself out of annoyance. I suddenly got the urge to get Dwight down here and make it happen, and then suddenly felt like a child who was trying to apologize to her brother and was getting stonewalled and looking for her parent for help. _Well if anyone ever wondered what Duke and I got from our mom it's a good bet our stubbornness was one thing. _"Look this wasn't my idea, but Dwight…" I said trailing off not entirely sure where that sentence was going. I didn't want to do this any more than he apparently did. I should be walking out of here and going upstairs. Just as I was about to do just that, Duke cocked his head sideways, as if listening to something and then sighed and said, "Alright, fine, whatever." He walked out from behind the bar and led the way outside to the dock.

I slowly followed Duke, who had stopped a short way down the dock. "So Dwight thinks we should talk?" he asked abruptly. What about?" "Us...I think…" I said standing a fair distance behind him. "Us…" he scoffed. "We are fine as far as I thought," he began but I cut him off. "Are you fucking kidding me? We are NOT fine! All I get from you this past week is anger and annoyance and frustration and Dwight says it's not directed at me, but I know SOME of it is! I can feel it Duke! No matter how hard you try and cover it up! Do you honestly think that this isn't hard for me too? That I'm ok with all of this? She was my sister Duke! This wasn't like last time! I had no choice! And thanks to you and Dwight being madly in love with her and me having actually looked into Ethan's mind as I killed him, I was the only one that could do this! And now thanks to me, she's gone! And I NEEDED you! I NEEDED to know that I had done the right thing, but all anyone can think when they look at me with how I fucked it all up! AGAIN! How EVERYTHING is my fault!" I finally yelled, letting everything that I'd been keeping pent up for the last week coming pouring out. Duke stared in silence for a long moment. His emotions were a jumble of guilt and heartbreak and pride. "Mari...I'm sorry. I really am. I never wanted you to think that! I wanted to be there for you! I love you and I am so...proud...of you! You did want I couldn't do. What Dwight couldn't do. You let her go. You…" he broke off as he moved to pull me into his arms, holding me tight as tears fell down his face. "We wouldn't have been able to let her go. We would have held on so tight that it wouldn't have been Mara that killed her but us-" I cut him off. "She's NOT dead!" I said fiercely. "She said she would find her way back to us and I believe her." He nodded and held me tighter. "I know," he said softly. "Why does everyone talk about it like I just _let_ her go? Like all I did was watch her walk through a door? Everyone makes it sound so easy," I spat annoyed. "It wasn't easy." "I know sweetheart. Other people may not, but Dwight and I know. We know how hard it was to let her go." He looked down into my eyes and let me feel his understanding. "I'm sorry for avoiding you Mari, I just...I'm not as good as Dwight and Rose at the whole radio silence thing and I know that's what you needed. I felt like I wasn't being a good brother because I couldn't keep my emotions in check. I didn't want to hurt you and I just...I needed time to really understand what had happened. I felt horrible for feeling relieved that it was her and not you. I still had Dwight, which meant I wasn't completely alone. I just...I don't know what I'd do if I lost you Mari. I really don't. That's not to say that I don't love Rose, but...I know she can handle herself and she will get back to us...it may take time, but she will come back to us. You on the other hand, you don't know how to navigate any other worlds and I wouldn't be able to handle losing you," he tried to explain and I nodded. "Dwight said the same thing," I said softly, realizing, finally, that he had been telling the truth. "We love you Mari and we won't let anything happen to you. And while I may be your big brother, I like your choice in men. Jace is good and I think that you and him make a good couple. Don't lose him please?" he asked and I couldn't help but smile. "I won't," I promised. "As long as you stop avoiding me. I can deal with the pain and the heartbreak. As long as it's not directed at me."

I felt Duke put a hand under my chin and pulled my face up to examine the bruises on my face that were only now just starting to heal. I looked at his black eye which was now turning a slight yellow and the bruise along his cheekbone. "Sorry about that," I said as I touched it lightly. He flinched slightly. "I really need to teach you more constructive ways to deal with your anger and frustration," he said smiling. "But picking fights is so much fun," I said smiling. "Until you lose," Duke said. "Hasn't happened yet!" I said.

**DWIGHT**

I leaned against the upper railing of the Gray Gull and watched as Mari and Duke slowly made their way back up the docks laughing. Obviously they had sorted things out. I glanced down at the letter in my hand and my good mood vanished. It was from Rose. I knew that much, but I hadn't brought myself to open it yet. I wasn't sure if I was scared or angry or both, but there were so many emotions flowing that it was ridiculous. I had meant what I said to Mari earlier about not being mad at Rose, but I thought Duke and I had made it clear that she wasn't supposed to do the whole self sacrificing thing anymore. I sighed and rolled my shoulders. I felt more than saw Duke's eyes on me as they made it back to the Gull and I heard him tell Mari softly that he would be back, then he was walking up the stairs and standing behind me. "Dwight?" he said softly and I felt my heart break. "She-" I broke off as I felt my voice break a little bit. I hadn't realized how close to tears I was. "She left us a letter." Duke moved to stand behind me and he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Did you open it?" he asked softly and I shivered slightly as I felt his goatee rub gently against my neck. "No," I replied softly. "I wanted to wait for you…" He smiled against my neck. "Okay well...let's see what she had to say…" I slowly opened the envelope in my hand and pulled out the letter.

_My loves,_

_By the time you read this I will be gone. I am writing this in one of the rare moments where I have enough control over my body to do more than look around. I need you both to know that I love you so much. If there were any other way to do this then I would do it. If there was some way for me to get rid of Mara without leaving you I would take it, but in the end I am stuck with the burden and I will be selfish and put Mari in a similar situation. Please don't be mad at her. She was only doing what I asked. My hope is that, once I am in that other realm, I can kill Mara and William, and end the Troubles from there and then find a way back. _

_Even if I am never able to make it back to you, know that I will cherish every memory and moment we have shared. You two are the greatest things that have ever happened to me and you will always be close to my heart. Please take care of each other and of Mari. You will need each other more than ever. Keep practicing those exercises I taught you and keep loving each other. I will be with you in spirit no matter what. _

_All my love,_

_Rose "D'ardaigh" Hunter_

I stared blankly at the page after I finished reading it, not realizing that I was crying until Duke moved to wipe the tears from my face. "Hey," he said softly, tears evident in his eyes. "She loves us and she WILL find a way back." I nodded and looked at him for a long moment, just memorizing every curve and line of his face, before I slowly leaned in and captured his lips with mine. We stayed that way for what could have been minutes, hours, or days, before finally pulling away and staring into each others eyes. "I love you, Duke," I whispered softly, kissing him gently again. "I know and I love you too," he replied. "Now come on, I've got a restaurant to run and we've got a sister downstairs who is in desperate need of a drink most likely." I laughed and gave him one more soft kiss before lacing my fingers with his and following him down the stairs.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

**DWIGHT**

The next six months were relatively quiet for all of us. Duke and Mari continued to strengthen their relationship as siblings, which eventually led to Mari working at the police station with Nathan, Audrey, and I. Her trouble definitely came in handy there.

Duke and I continued to mourn and search for Rose, but we also grew closer. While we still spent a great deal of time on the Rouge, we had moved most of our stuff, including the giant bed, to my home on land and had added Duke to the deeds and paperwork. It had taken the people of Haven a while to get used to the idea that the resident Pirate and the Police Chief were dating, but they had gotten used to it and all seemed to wish us well.

I smiled to myself as I got dressed quietly. Duke was still asleep, but I had gotten a hurried call from Nathan that there was something going on down at the station. I leaned over and gently pressed a kiss to Duke's temple and he smiled. "Where the hell are you going at-" he cut off as he looked the clock. "3 in the goddamn morning?" he asked, pouting slightly when I resisted his attempts to pull me back into bed. I laughed. "I'm sorry baby, but I got called in. Nathan says he needs help." That got Duke's attention. "But Nathan is supposed to be undercover with Mari?!" he said slightly alarmed. "He didn't say anything about Mari so I think she's fine. You go back to sleep. I will call you when I know more. I promise. I love you," I said softly, pressing a kiss to his lips gently. "I love you too," he replied softly. I smiled as he curled up with my pillow and sunk back into a peaceful sleep. I grabbed my kevlar vest, strapped it on and then made my way out of the house and to the station.

Nathan and Mari were sitting on either side of my desk arguing when I walked in. Mari had her feet up and crossed and she looked mildly alarmed. "Do I need to call Duke?" was the first thing out of my mouth and Mari just stared for a moment. "You look scared, Mar," was all I replied. She shook her head. "Not scared. Highly alarmed and mildly amused. So while we were working this evening, Nathan grabbed my ass and I spun around and slapped him." I sat back waiting for the punch line of this story. "And he felt it." I froze. Nathan felt the slap?! I looked to him and he was beaming. "Y-you felt it?" I asked softly and he nodded happily. "Every painful second of it!" he said gleefully and I couldn't help, but smile. "Keep grinning like a fool and I will punch you," Mari growled and Nathan just chuckled. "It might be the last thing you ever do, but I'd feel it!" Both Mari and I shared a look and shook our heads.

"Wait, does this mean the-" I started. "The Troubles are over!" Nathan said exuberantly. I began to think about not having to wear my vest everytime I went out. About being able to go places and not worry about gunfire. About being able to enjoy my time with Duke- "Hey! Halt! Back that train of thought up! Right now!" Mari said looking at me with fire in her eyes. I smiled slightly. "Sorry Mar" I said and shrugged. "We should test Nathan's little theory on someone with a less dangerous Trouble before you go taking off that vest for good Dwight," Mari said looking at me with concern. Throughout these past few months Mari and I had also had some time to bond as well and I knew that her worry was as much for me as it was for what Duke would do if he lost me because I wasn't being careful. I sighed. Guess I'd have to keep the vest on a little longer. "Yeah you're probably right," I said. Mari gave a quick nod. "So who do want to test this on?" I asked the group at large. The room was quiet as we all thought. I looked up and Mari was looking at me and it was clear we were both thinking the same thing. "Duke," we both said in unison. "What about your Trouble?" I asked her. "Both still alive and kicking," she said, and I noticed a slight tone of disappointment in her voice. I wanted to ask her about it but her eyes flitted to where Nathan stood, feeling everything in the room right down the dirt on the windowsill. She clearly didn't want to talk about it with Nathan in the room.

She started chewing her bottom lip. "What?" I asked her. I tried very hard to ignore Nathan, who was enjoying the difference between the cool of the glass in the window and the hot air coming from the heater vent in the floor. It was like watching an infant experiencing their world for the first time, except stranger, since this was a grown man. I walked over to Mari and put a hand on her shoulder. "If this is about Duke…" "He hates his Trouble," she said quietly. "I don't want to get his hopes up. Especially if this is some freak incident." I knew she was right, but I also knew that Duke's Trouble was one that could be tested without putting anyone's life in danger. "Usually," Mari said outloud to my unspoken thought. I laughed. "True, but he can control it, when he wants. I think he's our only option. We don't want this to get out if it _is_ some strange, random, occurrence. Things could get ugly. Fast." "Dwight's right. This has happened before. People get desperate and when their Trouble's don't go away, they can do some stupid things." Nathan had finally stopped feeling everything in the office and was now leaning against the desk. "Fine," Mari said. "But I wanna be there when you tell him. I can help keep him calm if I need to." I nodded. "Why don't you and I," I said gesturing to Mari, "go now and Nathan, get back undercover. The last thing we need is this case falling apart. Especially if the Troubles are over."

"So Nathan grabbed your ass?" I asked Mari, trying to hide my entertainment. We were in my truck, driving back to my house to tell Duke about Nathan's Trouble and to test his own. "Yeah, but you might not want to tell Duke. Now that Nathan can feel, he can't take Duke the way he used to," she said smiling. "Yeah, good point," I said laughing a bit. Duke was even more protective of Mari these days, even one time going so far as not letting Jace and her be alone for more than 3 minutes at a time. Mari had quickly fixed that by reminding him that the last thing he wanted was a sexually pent-up sister. I shook my head. That had been a really interesting night. "Ok, but _why_ did Nathan grab your ass?" I pushed out of pure curiosity. I saw Mari lean her elbow on the armrest and put her head against the window, closing her eyes and pinching the top of her nose. She was exhausted. "Something about wanting to keep his 'character more realistic' or something? I didn't mean to slap him it was just instinct. And to be honest I think he was so happy he could feel it that he didn't even realize what had happened." "Instinct?" I asked. I only knew vague details about her past because Duke had insisted that any specific had to come from her. "Let's just say it wasn't the first time someone grabbed my ass to get my attention. Or the hundredth," she said, eyes still closed. I suddenly felt my own wave of overprotectiveness as I pulled into the driveway. "Don't worry Dwight. It's all in my past," Mari said before getting out of truck. "I still don't have to like it," I said quietly. "No, but there's also nothing you can do about it. Trust me, if someone grabs my ass in the future, I give you _and_ Duke full permission to kick his ass. After me, that is." I looked over and she flashed me a smile. "Good to know I have your permission," I said and wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

I went into the bedroom and gently kissed the top of Duke's head. He stirred and looked up at me. "Hey, everything ok?" he asked me through a yawn. I sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand in mine, enjoying the feel of his rough skin. "Sort of. Everything's fine with Mari," I said quickly because I noticed panic spread across Duke's face. "Rose?" he asked quietly. "Not exactly," I said slowly. "It's the Troubles." I let that sink in a moment and Duke sat up looking at me, his eyes full of questions. "What about them?" he asked and I could hear the slight sound of hope and worry in his voice. "Nathan can feel," I said. I saw that register on Duke's face and he started breathing fast. "What about everyone else?" he asked slowly and I could tell he was trying not to get his hopes up. "I don't know," I said. "That's why Mari and I came back here. We wanted to test your trouble. We figured it was easiest and not life threatening. It would be easy to keep a lid on things too if…" I trailed off, not wanting to think that Duke might have to deal with his Trouble for the rest of his life. I knew how much of a burden it was for him. "If they aren't really gone," he finished my sentence for me. Duke took a deep breath and then pushed the covers back. "Ok, let's do this." I kissed him once and then stood up. "You might want to put some pants on before you come out of the bedroom," I said casually before walking back into the living room.

Mari was lying on the couch with her legs over one of the arms and her arms at her sides. She sat up, balancing her weight on her elbows when she heard me come out. "He gonna do it?" she asked. I nodded. She swung her legs off the arm of the couch and stood up, this time sitting on the arm and putting her feet on the couch. Duke came out, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Morning Mar," he said as he yawned. "Evening Duke," she said, stifling the yawn that was trying escape her mouth. "Be careful what you think cause I can still hear you!" she said warningly. Duke went into the kitchen and I heard him rummaging around and the clank of metal. "Knife," Mari said without even looking up. Sure enough Duke came back into the living room holding one of the large knives. He walked over and handed it to me. "Are you sure about this?" I asked him, suddenly thinking that this might be a really bad idea. "Just do it," Duke said. I took the knife and looked at Mari. One quick nod told me that she was ready to keep Duke's emotions in check if the need arose. I hesitated for a second and then pressed the blade of the knife to my palm. I winced as a line of blood suddenly appeared. Duke held his hand out and I tipped my hand, letting my blood spill onto it. We all stared at his hand and I felt the tension rise and fall suddenly in the room, thanks to Mari. As we watched, the blood began to soak into Duke's hand and I looked up to see his eyes had gone silver. Mari was off the couch in seconds. I held a hand out to her and said, "Duke?" He was breathing hard and backed away from me. "I'm fine just...just give me a minute." He leaned heavily against the wall and closed his eyes. I glanced at Mari from the corner of my eyes and saw her staring at Duke intently, not taking her eyes off of him. She was also breathing very slowly and evenly, which meant that she was focusing all her energy on keeping the emotions in the room at low levels.

"I'm ok Mar," Duke said, his eyes still closed. "I know. I'm just...keeping things that way," she responded cooley. I walked over to Duke and slowly put my hand to his shoulder. He didn't flinch, which was a good sign. His breathing slowed and his eyes opened. "Guess they aren't all gone," he said slowly. "I'm...I'm so sorry," I said and pulled him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around me and said, "It's ok. I'll live." "I know," I responded. "But I wish…" Duke moved so that he was looking at me. He smiled. "I know," he said and kissed me gently. I deepened the kiss, overpowered by the tension that had been in the room earlier.

As I wrapped my arms tighter around Duke, he suddenly pulled away saying, "Hang on, something's missing here." I looked at him questioningly and he smiled. "When was the last time we kissed like that with Mari around and she didn't say anything?" I laughed quietly. We both looked around and saw Mari curled up on the couch with one arm tucked under her head, fast asleep. Duke moved to the couch and pulled the blanket off the back. He covered her and kissed her head lightly. "Sweet dreams crazy girl," he said. I put my hand out to him and he took it, raising it to his lips and kissing it gently. "Now then, where were we?" he asked smiling. "Sleep," I said, suddenly realizing how tired I was. Duke pouted, but I knew the minute his head hit the pillow he'd be out. "Besides, do you really want to give your sister any more ammo to hold over us?" I asked with a knowing smile. He nodded. "Good point," he said and we headed back into our bedroom.

"So if the Troubles are slowly going away does that mean…" Duke started, hope coloring his voice as he looked into my eyes. There was a slight shining of tears and I couldn't help but smile a little bit as well. "I think so. It must mean that Rose is still alive. She must have killed one of those bastards and she is hopefully making her way back to us soon," I said softly as I leaned down to kiss him again before pulling him into bed and letting sleep engulf us once again.

**MARI**

It had been a long month since news had spread that the Troubles were slowly disappearing. Many people who had life-altering Troubles were restless, wondering when they'd be able to lead normal lives again. Unfortunately no one could give them any answers. I thought Audrey would be able to give us an answer but since she was no longer connected to the Barn or to Mara, she had no idea. She was also no longer immune to the Troubles, but thankfully that hadn't seemed to be a huge problem. Largely, I thought, due to the fact that she still had the ability to connect to Troubled people and talk to them. Nathan was still thoroughly enjoying the fact that he could feel everything and could often be seen walking around with his arms out so that he could touch the buildings, cars, and people that happened to be next to him.

My relationship with Jace had only gotten better and we spent every free moment we had together. He was getting restless having nothing to do all day so Duke put him to work in the Gull. He cleaned, tended the bar, and was even learning how to cook. It was strange that of the two of us, he became the domestic one, though, my apartment was looking better than ever!

I was lying in bed, watching the sun play on Jace's hair as he slept. He was so beautiful it looked like he had just fallen from the sky, straight out of Heaven. Not that I believed in Heaven or Hell necessarily, but if anyone could convince me, it'd be Jace. He looked so peaceful as he slept, breathing in and out rhythmically. He was lying on his back with his right arm thrown over his bare chest and his head turned to me. The sun gave him a golden halo and made it look like he had flecks of gold imbedded in his skin. His eyelids were slightly darker and his eyelashes were the same gold as his hair. He was undoubtedly one of the best things that had ever happened to me and I promised myself that I would stop trying to push him away. I kissed his shoulder lightly and then perched on my elbow and lower arm so that I could kiss the backs of his eyelids and his lips. I felt his eyelashes flutter against my cheek as I kissed him and his mouth opened to mine. He slid his tongue into my mouth and the next thing I knew, his arms were wrapped around me, holding me to him in a deathgrip. "Hey!" I laughed. "You're cutting off my air!" I collapsed onto his chest dramatically and we both laughed together. "That was a wonderful way to wake up," he said, letting me go slightly. I moved so that I was lying on top of him. Every inch of our bodies touched and it sent shivers up my spine, despite the fact that we were both wearing pajamas. I felt his hands start rubbing my back in gentle circles and I started running a finger along his face, tracing each line as if I was trying to commit it to memory. "So how about…" Jace started. "We spend all day right here?" I smiled and softly kissed him again. "I can't," I sighed. "I'd love to, but I've got my….bro-date with Dwight today. He's taking me shooting!" I realized I may have said that with a little too much enthusiasm, but I didn't really care. "Is that really a good idea?" Jace asked, concern coloring his voice and face. "Oh yeah," I said still running my finger along his cheekbones. "But his Trouble?" Jace asked. "It's not gone completely, but he can be a few feet away and be fine. He still always wears his vest though, just in case. I think Duke would kill him personally if he didn't."

It had been hard on Duke when we started realizing that Dwight's Trouble was slowly dissipating. Dwight, Nathan, and I had been in the field responding to a call about someone threatening a neighbor over some dispute. It turned out that the guy was Troubled and was pissed when his neighbor's Trouble had disappeared and his hadn't. He was crazy and waving a loaded gun at anyone who tried to come near him. We were all standing behind Nathan's truck a good 10 feet away. I tried to calm him down, but he was so crazy that I couldn't get close enough to reach him. After we all tried to talk to him he finally snapped and attempted to shoot his neighbor. When the gun went off we all froze, waiting for it to hit Dwight, but it never made it to him. Dwight and I both looked at his vest and then at each other. When Dwight realized what had happened he went to arrest the guy, but when he got within 3 feet of him, the guy shot his gun off in the air and the bullet changed direction and went straight into Dwight's vest. After we successfully arrested the guy, Dwight went to tell Duke and I could tell when I was hanging out with Duke later that he had taken it hard. "I want to be happy for him. I mean I am happy for him. I just wish my Trouble would go," he had said as we sat on the porch outside my apartment that night. "I know, but maybe yours can't go until all the others are gone, you know? I mean, your Trouble is the counterbalance to all the other ones. We kind of need it until everyone else is back to normal," I'd said, trying to come up with an explanation. "Yeah, maybe" Duke said. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, drinking his beer. "Just be happy that you don't have to worry about Dwight always being in danger. It could be worse. At least you can put yours away, so to speak. You could be stuck with mine!" I said smiling and reached over to squeeze his shoulder. Duke nodded. "Seriously," I continued. "You shouldn't even be here Duke. You should be back at Dwight's. In bed. For, like, the next week!" Duke spit out the beer he had just drunk, coughing and spluttering. "Wow Mar, really?" he asked, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. I shrugged and smiled. "Hey, it's what I'd do if it were me! Seriously Duke! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your ass back home! Or to the Rouge! I don't really care, but GO BE WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND!" I shouted playfully and pointed to the stairs. Duke threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Ok, Ok! Jeez, when did you become the one pushing time with boyfriends around here?" he asked as he got up. I stood and hugged him. "I had a good teacher," I said smiling.

I sighed and put my head on Jace's chest, listening to his heart beat and his breathing. He was still drawing circles on my back. "I could stay like this forever you know," I said to him quietly. "Never getting up, never going to work, just laying right here, with the sun pouring through the windows, listening to you breathe." I heard the breath catch in Jace's throat. "Yes I know...I'm being romantic...but…" I trailed off not able to find the right words. Jace was suddenly, very gently, attacking my mouth with his. His kisses were hard and frantic and yet sweet and full of passion. I kissed him back, opening my mouth to his and allowing his tongue to mingle with my own. His hands had moved. One was now under my shirt, still holding me to him. The other, however and moved to under my boxer shorts and my underwear and was holding my ass. His thumb was drawing patterns on my tailbone and sending shiver through my whole body. I tangled my hands into hair, wanting to get our faces as close together as humanly possible. Suddenly we both jumped at the sound of my alarm clock going off. "Grr…" we both groaned in unison. As much as I was actually looking forward to strengthening my bond with Dwight, this morning was just getting good and I didn't want to leave the warmth and comfort of my bed or Jace. I rolled over and turned my alarm clock off, slamming the snooze button so hard I knocked the clock off the bedside table. It clattered to the floor with a loud crash. I sighed deeply and kicked the covers off, swinging my legs off the bed. "Guess I should get ready. Dwight's gonna be here soon," I said, turning my head to look at Jace. "You know we could always lock the door and pretend no one's home," he said hopefully. I stood up and leaned over the bed to kiss him. "I love you. But I do actually want to go shooting with Dwight," I said. Jace sighed and thumped back in the bed, watching me walk over to my dresser. "And stop staring at my ass!" I said laughing.

An hour later Dwight and I were at the shooting range. I knew how to shoot, but we were here for fun. Or as Dwight put it, "extra practice with firearms is never a bad thing." He was trying to put a cautionary, safety spin on our activity that afternoon, but I knew he was having just as much fun as I was, now that he could shoot an actual gun again. We did, however, take extra precautions and make sure we had the entire range to ourselves, just in case.

"Good aim!" Dwight said after I hit my target dead center. "Thanks!" I said smiling. I reloaded the gun and turned to him. "Your turn." He took the gun and aimed at one of the moving targets across the field from us. "Oh sure, go for the one farthest away," I said as I saw the target in his mind. "Hey, you know I did this for a living in Afghanistan right?" he asked me, still aiming. "Yes but…" I was cut off mid sentence by the load crack of the gun. I watched it hit the target dead center. "Show off," I said, not even bothering to hide my annoyance. I didn't like it when people were better than me at things. _I should probably work on that..._I thought. "So…" I started, trying to find something to talk about, other than the guns. "How's Duke doing?" I asked. Dwight turned to look at me and I could hear the question in his head. "I would think you'd know," he said. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Just trying to come up with something to talk about," I said. He offered me the gun. I ignored it and went for the shotgun lying at his feet. "Really? You sure you can handle that?" he asked me already fully aware that it was my weapon of choice. "Just you watch!" I said. I picked up the shotgun and aimed at one of the targets at the other end of the field. I braced myself and fired, hitting my mark. "It's scary how good you are with that thing, you know?" Dwight asked me as I set the gun down. I nodded. "That's kinda the point. In my previous life, it always came in handy when I was faced with….challenging clients." I said, trying not to tell him too much about my past. I knew he knew a lot. Duke couldn't hide it from him, and I didn't really mind. Most days. But I still was wary about how much to say. Partly because he was a cop, but also because most people didn't like the idea of being friends with "dangerous" people. "Yeah, Duke's told me stories about some of his more challenging clients," Dwight said smiling slightly. He was careful to conceal his thoughts so I didn't see what he was thinking. For once I was glad. I really didn't want to know what he was thinking about, but I could guess. There was only one reason someone would smile like that when thinking about the person they loved in a dangerous situation, and it had more to do with what the two of them were doing when Duke told him. I shivered. Dwight noticed and opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "I don't need to read minds to know where your head went. It's written all over your face," I said, pointing to my own face. He smiled again, only this time out of guilt.

"I'm starving!" I said trying to change the subject and glanced toward the pack that had our lunches in it. Dwight sat down and began pulling out sandwiches and bottles of water for each of us. I grabbed my sandwich and sat down next to him on the soft ground. "So if we aren't going to talk about Duke, what are we going to talk about? This was your idea after all," I said. I took a bite of my sandwich. "I don't know," Dwight shrugged. "You could tell me about your past," he suggested and bit into his sandwich. "Uh-uh," I said around my mouthful of food. "You already know way too much thanks to your pillow talk with my brother!" We both laughed. "Oh come on, I'm curious. I've got an international spy for a sister! I'd like to know about your life!" I smiled. "I wouldn't go _that _far. I wasn't a spy...well...not really anyway. I was pretty international though…" I said, trailing off. "Ok," I finally gave in. We were supposed to be bonding weren't we? "What do you want to know?" Dwight was quiet for a minute, then asked, "Craziest thing you've ever done?" I thought about that for a moment. I had done a lot of crazy things in my time, but the craziest would definitely have to be, "Stealing money from drug lords all over Latin America. That, or stealing from some of the biggest players in the game," I said. I saw pictures of me in some pretty compromising positions pass through Dwight's mind. "I can't believe Duke's ok with this," he said and then I saw an image of a little girl, about 10 years old. She had brown hair and bright green eyes. I knew who it must have been. "He didn't even know I existed at that point, and he'd be a total hypocrite if he said anything against it. He's fairly well known in that world too, especially if you have something of extreme value to smuggle." I took another bite of sandwich. Dwight sat quietly, thinking of that same little girl and Duke. Then his thoughts turned to Rose. I couldn't handle talking about Rose right now, so I found another topic of discussion. "You know I still don't know how it happened," I said, showing him the image of his daughter that I had seen in his mind. "I asked Duke and Rose about it, but they both just blocked their minds, and I decided not to push the issue." Dwight stared out at the field for a few minutes before answering. "We were brought to Haven by the Guard," he finally said. "I was terrified that Lizzie would have my Trouble and I wanted to keep her safe. It's what every parent wants I think. I joined the Guard because I thought I owed them, but when I realized what the Guard was actually doing, I tried to get out. They came to my house and tried to kill me, but…." he trailed off. I saw what happened in his mind. Two members of the Guard coming to his house with guns. The stand off between them and Dwight. Guns going off. I flinched automatically. "They hit Lizzie...instead of you…" I finished quietly. I couldn't quite breathe. I stared out across the field. "I knew the Guard was cruel but...I can't believe…" I said. I couldn't find the words I wanted to say. I felt anger well up inside me and I fought the urge to run back into town and kill Vince. Dwight must have seen it in my face because he said, "It's all in the past Mar. Let it go…" He put a hand on mine, trying to calm me in the way he'd seen me do before. I took a very slow, calculated, breath. "I'm...I'm so sorry Dwight," I said quietly. "It's ok," Dwight said, just as quietly. "No. It's not," I said. He took a deep breath. "No, it's not. But I've got Duke. And you," he said, smiling slightly. He wanted to drop the topic, so I finished my sandwich.

"Have you...heard anything?" He asked slowly. I froze. "From Rose?" He added. "No." I said and stood up and grabbed the shotgun. "Mari, I know you don't want-" he was cut off by the shotgun. "Want to talk about it but-" he was again cut off by the shotgun. _Damn right I don't want to talk about it! Anything, but that!_ I thought as I aimed the shotgun again. I shot it, but was met with the click that told me I was out of bullets. _Damn!_ I thought. In my head I saw Dwight grab the pack of bullets off the ground and put them in his back pocket. _Damn it!_ He saw his chance and he wasn't going to let me off the hook. I stood with my back to him. I was breathing hard out of frustration. Dwight pushed on. "Mari, she's coming back." "I know," I said, but it sounded too much like I was trying to convince myself. I saw Dwight take a step towards me in his mind. I stiffened automatically. "The Troubles are going away. Which means she's killed at least one of them. She's coming back." I took a deep breath. I wanted to believe what he was saying. More than anything. "But if Mara couldn't get out of that hell, then how is she supposed to?" I asked, completely out of character for me. "She's strong. She'll find a way," Dwight responded. I finally turned to him. "Mara was strong," I said. It was a fear I hadn't let myself speak since Rose had left. I was afraid that if I spoke it aloud, Duke, Dwight, Jace, even Nathan and Audrey, would realize I was right and lose hope. If they gave up, it would mean that Rose was really gone and that wasn't a truth I could accept. Dwight closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. "She's coming back. She has four very good reasons to come back, which is four more than Mara had. She'll find her way, we just have to give her time," he said in my ear. I hugged him back and hoped against hope he was right.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

**MARI**

I stood on the porch outside my apartment with my arms on the railing, sipping a cup of hot coffee and Bailey's, staring out across the water. It had been a full year since Rose had gone, and yet the hole it left still throbbed. Dwight and Jace had taken the day off and both boys, along with Duke, were now sitting in my apartment. We had all decided that we wanted to be together today, but I had needed a moment alone. I heard the door open behind me and Jace's soft footfalls hit the wood. "You okay?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around me and put his chin on the crook of the back of my neck. He kissed the skin there softly. "I'm trying to be," I said. "Of all the people in the world, I think you've got the three most understanding people sitting in your apartment and you are still afraid to show your emotions to us?" he asked. I knew he asked out of curiosity and not judgement, but I immediately felt myself get defensive. I took a breath before speaking and answered, forcing myself to laugh, "Yeah, apparently. I know it's crazy but...they weren't kidding when they said old habits die hard." I felt Jace laugh and smile against the bare skin of my neck. "True, but it might help if you actually _tried_ to break this one," he said. I sighed. He was right. As usual. "Yeah-" I started, but then stopped mid-sentence. I froze, not believing what I was seeing. Jace felt the change in my body. "What is it? Mari what-" he started. I shushed him and kept staring out into the water. I watched as a body appeared out of nowhere and fell, hitting the water with an audible splash. Jace heard the splash and looked out, following my gaze. "Rose," I whispered quietly. I started breathing fast, waiting for something, anything to happen, but as I watched, I saw, to my horror, that the body started to slip beneath the water, not moving. "Get Duke and Dwight!" I shouted already stripping off my jacket and shoes. "Mari what-?" Jace started to ask. I cut him off as I climbed onto the railing. "It's Rose!" I said pointing to where the body had just fallen. "GET THE BOYS!" I screamed. As Jace turned and dashed back into the apartment I dove off of the railing and into the freezing cold water below.

I swam as fast as I could out into the middle of the bay. _Come on! Come on!_ I urged myself, wanting to get to the quickly sinking body as fast as possible. When I got close I dove down under the water, searching for her in the dark water. I looked around wildly but couldn't see anything. I searched with my hands frantically, but felt only the icy water. _Come on Mari! You can do this! Calm down! THINK!_ I calmed my mind and searched outwardly, listening hard, tilting my head this way and that until I heard it. The faintest sound coming from somewhere to my left. I swam left and felt with my mind and my hands. I was just about to lose air when I finally felt my hand come into contact with skin. I grabbed the hand and pulled Rose's body to me with every ounce of strength I had. As I did, I kicked hard with my feet and pushed us both upwards. Our heads found the surface of the water and I breathed in gulps of air. I wrapped one arm around Rose's limp body and swam towards the dock of the Gull with the other.

When I reached the dock, Duke, Dwight, and Jace were all there, ready to help. Jace had a couple of the blankets from my apartment. "Pull her up!" I shouted as I got close to the dock. Duke and Dwight reached their arms out and grabbed both of Rose's arms and pulled her out of the water. Jace wrapped one of the blankets around her and Dwight checked for a pulse. Duke came back to the end of the dock and helped pull me up out of the water. He wrapped the second blanket around me and began rubbing my arms. "Why on earth would you jump into that water?" he asked me as my teeth chattered uncontrollably. "Wouldn't you?" I asked and looked down at Rose. Dwight had started CPR. "Come on Rose! Come on!" I said under my breath. I finally looked at her for the first time and noticed how horrible she looked. She was badly bruised and it looked like her shoulder was dislocated. She had cuts all over her body. I sucked in a breath as I felt a sudden wave a nausea hit me. Jace looked at me, but I shook my head, not wanting to say anything with Duke and Dwight in earshot.

Suddenly Rose spit up what looked like half the bay and started breathing, but her eyes were still closed. "Rose? Sweetheart?" Duke asked, trying to wake her. "She's unconscious," I said, listening to her mind. It was barely audible, as if her brain were only allowing certain thoughts to pass through. "We need to warm her up. She's freezing. Take her upstairs. Put her in my bed. I've got extra blankets in the cabinet." Dwight nodded and carefully picked Rose up and carried her back upstairs. Duke followed close behind, but I stayed back for a second. "She was tortured," I said to Jace. He looked at me and I saw the question in his eyes. "I've seen people after they've been tortured. By the looks of things, she's lucky she escaped at all." Jace wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face in his shoulder. I felt my stomach roll again and fought down the urge to throw up. "Mari!" I heard Duke yell my name from the deck and I grabbed Jace's hand, running upstairs.

**DUKE**

I had just barely made it outside when I saw Mari jumping off the balcony railing and into the bay below. _WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING?! _I thought in confusion as I sprinted towards the nearby dock with Dwight and Jace close behind me. When we were finally close enough to see Mari again my heart stopped. She had a body with her. A very familiar body. "Rose…" I whispered and I felt Dwight grip my shoulder. "She did it!" He whispered in excitement and I smiled at him. As Mari got close enough we reached out a pulled Rose out of the water. I quickly grabbed a second blanket and wrapped it around Mari, chastising her for jumping in the water, but I was cut off as Rose coughed up half the freaking bay before falling back into unconsciousness. I carefully examined her body and felt my stomach drop as I saw more. There were fresh cuts that were still bleeding and cuts that were scabbed over. There were scars in places that she didn't have scars before. There was bruising all over her body and face and I was almost positive her shoulder was dislocated. I had seen this kind of damage before. I had been on the receiving end of this. My beautiful Rose had been tortured. The knowledge caused pain to ripple through me and through my link with Dwight. He glanced at my sharply and I shook my head. He didn't need to know this yet. We carefully carried her back up to apartment.

Once we got her settled on the bed I knew that we needed Mari or Jace to come help us set her shoulder in place again. "Dwight, lay next her under the covers. Try to warm her up. I'm going to grab Mari and Jace," he nodded and quickly shed his vest, jacket and shirt, and despite the urgency of the situation I took one quick second to once again admire my boyfriend. He glanced and me and playfully glared. "Go!" he said softly as he curled into Rose, wrapping her in his arms. I strode quickly over to him and press a rough kiss to his lips and then pressed a more gentle one to Rose's lips. "She did it," I whispered, tears filling my eyes. "She did," he replied. "Now go, we need to set her shoulder sooner rather than later." I nodded and after one more second of just looking at them, I quickly moved out to the deck and yelled for Mari.

A few seconds later I made my way back into the apartment with Jace and Mari only to stop abruptly as Mari took off for the bathroom, slamming the door. I glanced to Jace and he shrugged. I shook my head and gestured for him to follow me and we quickly moved to stand around Rose. "Okay, have you done this before Jace?" I asked and he nodded. "Unfortunately, yes." I nodded and looked to Dwight. He nodded in agreement and he quickly moved to be laying with Rose leaning against his chest, Jace was pressing against her left side and I gently took her right arm. "Okay, on the count of three…" I took a deep breath. "One...Two...THREE!" I cried as I pushed her arm and it popped back into place with an audible pop. I looked down expecting Rose to react, but there was nothing. Not even the slightest wince of pain. The bathroom door opened and Mari came out wiping her mouth. "You okay?" I asked in concern and she just nodded. "Did you fix her shoulder?" she asked and I nodded. "Did it get a reaction?" "Not even a wince," I replied. "Okay…" She sat down and sighed. "I guess it's time to try out the trick she tried on me. Stand back boys, this may get ugly." She closed her eyes and gently placed her hands on Rose's temples.

We all watched as seconds turned to minutes and minutes slowly turned into an hour before there was any reaction from either woman. Mari lurched back, dragging her fingers away from Rose's temples and breathing hard. "Oh God!" she whispered before once again darting to the bathroom. This time Jace followed her and I would have too if Dwight hadn't grabbed my hand and I glanced down. Rose's eyelids flickered slowly her eyes opened. "Rose?!" we both whispered hopefully and she smiled back at us softly. "I promised I'd come back," she said softly before she broke into a cough. "What happened? Did I drink the bay or something?" she asked as she wiped water away from her mouth. I felt a tear fall down my face as I moved to lay on the bed next to her. "Something like that," Dwight said softly. "How long?" she asked and we both looked away. "How long…" she asked again more firmly. "One year," a voice answered and we turned to see Mari standing in the doorway. "You've been gone one year." She met Rose's eyes for a long moment before turning on her heel and storming out of the apartment.

**MARI**

I stormed out of the apartment and down the stairs to one of the chairs on the deck. I hadn't actually intended to get so angry, but when I came out of the bathroom and saw her awake, my anger got the best of me. I sat down hard in one of the chairs and instantly regretted it. My stomach did flip flops. _What the hell is wrong with me? I've seen people way more messed up than that! _I've _been worse than that! _I thought to myself. I shivered as I looked across the bay, seeing Rose fall out of the sky in my mind. I watched the whole scene play over and over until it was so ingrained in my mind I couldn't shut it out. I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands. I sat like that for a while, until I heard soft footfalls behind me, coming down the dock.

**BOTH**

Rose slowly moved behind Mari, still unsteady on her feet. "Is this seat taken?" she asked softly, her voice cracking a bit. Mari shook her head. As much as she was happy that Rose was alive, she was afraid of opening her mouth. "Mari, let it out. I know you're mad and you have every right to be…" Rose started as she lowered herself into a chair gently, hissing as it bit into some of the more recent cuts on her back. "Don't hold back. Anger and fear are poison to your system," she said softly. "That explains a lot," Mari said quietly. Then she turned to look at her best friend. "You really shouldn't be out here. You need to get those looked at," she said, pointing to the cuts and bruises on Rose's body. "Duke already put disinfectant on all of them. There's nothing more than can be done for them until I have my magick restored," she said softly. Mari went back to staring out at the water for a minute, but then quietly said, "You left." The statement was plain and simple. A statement of fact, and yet Rose could hear the immense amount of pain and anger underneath it. "Yes," she replied. "Not by choice, but by necessity. I know that doesn't excuse it, but that's the fact." Mari balled her hands in her lap and stared at the wood on the deck, feeling tears threatening to fall. "You left...and you used me…." was all she managed to get out before her eyes blurred. "I didn't mean to make you feel like I used you Mari…" Rose replied, tears filling her eyes. She wanted to reach out and hold Mari's hand, but knew Mari would just flinch away. "I-I knew that you would trust me enough to let me go...Duke, Dwight...they wouldn't have. They would have tried to make me stay and even a small delay could have meant I lost control of Mara...and everything would have been for nothing," she tried to explain. Mari felt her body shudder. "How dare you use my past like that! Everything I told you, everything we talked about, you knew what doing that would mean for me! You knew what I would have to live with! You basically wrote my ticket out of Haven! Duke couldn't look at me for a week! Dwight was so mad! And Nathan! He STILL can't look at me half the time! You knew what belonging here meant to me! How could you?" Mari yelled, standing up and turning to march back up to the Gull. "I didn't think it would take me so long to get back. A day, maybe two," Rose said softly. "And it would have. If not for William…" she began, but shook her head. "I thought that, with the letters I left for Duke and Dwight and me coming back soon everything would be fine. I knew that with Jace, Duke, and Dwight you would be fine. I'm sorry about Nathan. I'm sorry you feel like I betrayed you, but I did what I needed to do to save Haven and everyone I love. If I had let Mara continue to run around in my body I would have eventually died and she would have still had my body and powers. It was a lose lose situation, so I took the side that cost the least amount of lives." Mari turned slowly. "And what about me? What about what you mean to me?" she asked Rose. "I knew that you would make it through because despite what you want everyone else to believe you always have hope. I knew that you would continue searching for me and you would always have the hope that I would come back. I knew you'd be pissed and that's fine." "You don't get it? Do you?" Mari asked, looking at Rose with questions in her eyes. "Apparently I don't so pray tell," Rose responded, the pain in her body making her somewhat snippy. Despite her anger and frustration, Mari smiled. "Yes, I'm pissed as hell that you didn't tell me what you were doing. It was annoying and frustrating, and rude! But," she said softening her voice and walking back over to sit in the chair next to Rose. "You asked me to watch my best friend give her life to some black hole, not knowing if I'd ever see her again. And I get why, which is why I didn't fight it but...this past year, more than anything else, more than the pain and the anger of dealing with everyone else in this stupid town, I MISSED you! I missed talking to you! I missed your sense of clarity! I even missed your tea! And as much as I hoped you were coming back, I felt like Duke and Dwight somehow knew and I didn't." At this point tears were streaming down Mari's face. Rose reached out and took Mari's hand. "I missed you too. And I'm sorry I had to do that. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I can say it a million times, but it won't change the facts. I can't change that." "I know…" Mari said quietly. "You should go back upstairs. Your boys missed you." She tried to smile. "I want to spend time with you," Rose said softly. "Really?" Mari asked. "Yep," Rose replied, leaning back carefully. "Tell me what I missed." Mari laughed at that. It was such a normal request. "Um...well...Duke is living with Dwight in Dwight's house. They moved a bunch of stuff off the Rouge, including the bed! And I'm working with Dwight and Nathan and Audrey now, as a consultant...kind of….and Jace is working at the Gull. OH! And the Troubles are slowly going away! Dwight doesn't have to wear his vest all the time, which makes Duke incredibly happy, but Duke and I are still cursed. Which sucks." Mari leaned back in her chair. "What about you…" she asked slowly.

Rose took a deep, shuddering breath. "Um...the time moves very differently there. It was year here. It was closer to...100 years there...And it was...hell…" She turned and looked out across the bay. "I can't...I can't remember parts of it...but...what I do remember is a lot of pain and...William has a really bad temper…" she said softly, laughing slightly. Mari sucked in a breath, seeing images go through Rose's mind. "It looks like what Ethan and I would do to each other….except way worse...Oh Rose I'm so sorry!" Mari could feel the tears welling up again. "No," Rose said quickly. "Don't be sorry. It was a needed evil. I had to find a way to kill him. And that gave me the best chance…" she said softly. "But no one should have to go through that! I don't care who they are! Actually, scratch that. Some people deserve to go through that, but NOT you." Mari said, regaining control of her emotions. She took Rose's hands in hers and squeezed them gently. Rose smiled at Mari. "I'm fine Mar," she said softly. "I promise!" "You know, you're much stronger than I ever gave you credit for," Mari said smiling, proud of Rose.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

**ROSE**

I wasn't sure exactly how long Mari and I sat out on the docks in silence, but not too long after we lapsed into a comfortable silence there was the sound of footsteps coming towards us. I leaned back as much as my injuries would allow and saw that Duke, Dwight, and Jace were all making their way towards us. "The cavalry has arrived," I whispered to her, giggling and she turned to look, laughing softly as well. "We will talk more later, but for now...go talk with the boys. They need some time with you too," Mari said softly. I nodded in agreement even though part of me was dreading it. I was scared of what they would say about the whole situation and what had happened.

I carefully moved to stand and Mari quickly helped me, gently wrapping her arm around my waist and I leaned my head on her shoulder. The adventures of the day had finally caught up with me and I was exhausted. She helped me over the where the boys were waiting, where Dwight quickly picked me up. "Take her home and let her sleep BEFORE you two interrogate her," Mari said sternly, with a smile on her face. "Yes ma'am," both men answered obediently before giving her quick kisses on the forehead and then heading to the cars. Dwight climbed into the passenger seat with me nestled in his lap while Duke drove with one hand wrapped around the wheel and the other wrapped around mine. Neither of them were able to take their eyes off of me for longer than a few seconds and I was continuously looking between the two of them. Even as sleep tried to overtake me I forced my eyes to stay open, afraid that if I closed my eyes this would all be a dream and I would wake up and find myself still stuck in that hell. Unfortunately when the body needs sleep that kind of rules over any other decisions and I apparently fell asleep in the car.

_I opened my eyes and couldn't keep the scream of pain that ripped from my mouth as I felt a lash on my back. "Well, looks like your back with us princess!" William said as he brought the lash across my back again. "I will ask you one more time! How do I bring Mara back?!" "You can't!" I screamed at him. I could feel the blood dripping down my back and I could see the puddle forming in the sand below me as he brought the lash down again and again in anger. "You can't have killed her! You are NOTHING compared to her! Compared to me!" He was furious. "Ah-" I said trying to to catch my breath. "But you forget WIlliam, I am part of Mara. I am her great granddaughter. I can and I did kill her. It was my destiny! It was my life goal!" I knew I was goading him, but I needed him to undo the chains. He strode over to me and grabbed my face. "No! My Mara was the greatest! She would not have been overpowered by a weak thing like you!" he screamed. I smirked. "If I am such a weak thing why am I chained? What are you so afraid of William?" I sneered at him. He scoffed and slapped me hard, splitting my lip. "Do you think I'm stupid little girl?" he questioned as he kicked my stomach. "You will never escape me!" He hissed. He raised his hand and the balls that he used to create the troubles assembled in his hand. He picked up a few and flicked them towards me. I struggled away from them, but it was no use. As they touched my skin it felt like someone had pressed a hot iron to me and I couldn't help but scream._

"ROSE! Wake up!" I heard someone yell and I jolted out of the dream, hitting something with my forehead in the process. "OW!" I cried as I fell back on the bed. I opened my eyes and saw Duke leaning back holding his chin. "Oh gods!" I cried in horror and moved towards him. "Are you okay?!" I asked as I moved his hand. There was no marks anywhere, but as I gently pressed a finger to his chin he winced slightly. "I'm so sorry Duke," I said softly. I leaned forward as if to kiss his chin, but I stopped myself and pulled back, unsure if that was okay. Duke noticed my hesitation and looked at me in confusion, but before he could ask, Dwight had come into the room carrying a cold cloth. "Did you get her to-What happened?" he asked in confusion. "I got her to wake up," Duke responded lightly. "And she headbutted me in the chin in the process." Dwight was quiet for a moment before he burst out laughing. "That's what you get!" Dwight said as he moved to look at Duke's chin. I sat back and watched them interact. Duke was pouting as Dwight gently ran a finger over his chin, just as I had done, and then dipped his head to kiss first his chin and then his lips. "There, all better?" he asked softly and Duke nodded. I couldn't help but smile. They were so comfortable together, obviously something good had come out of my disappearance. "Are you okay babe?" Dwight asked, turning towards me and I looked at him in confusion. "Yeah why wouldn't I be?" I asked and they both looked at me with startled expressions. "You were screaming bloody murder sweetheart," Duke said softly. I stared at him for a long moment in confusion before the dream came back to me in bits and pieces. "Oh...it...it was nothing," I said, trying to play it off, but I should have known better than to try that. "No it wasn't. Tell us what happened," Dwight said softly. So I took a deep breath and began from the beginning.

"Like I told Mari, what was a year for you guys was close to 100 for me. Time moves very differently there. Getting rid of Mara was fairly simple since her body was here and Audrey had taken it. I just had to release her spirit from my body and the environment did the rest. Unfortunately, getting rid of William was not as easy, nor was he very obliging in letting me kill him. He was mad as all hell because I had killed Mara and there was no way to bring her back. He...apparently...has a vast knowledge of…" I paused for a moment unsure if I really wanted to continue this, but one look into both Duke and Dwight's faces and I knew they had to know. "He had a vast knowledge of torture…" I finished finally and there was a long silence. I looked into each of their eyes and was surprised to find understanding and sorrow in Duke's eyes, although, given his previous job I shouldn't have been. What surprised me even more was the unconcealed and uncontrolled fury that had begun to radiate off of Dwight. He was shaking as his eyes travelled down my body taking in every cut, bruise and scar, finally fully comprehending what had happened and what had caused those marks. Then, without a single word or sound, he got up and walked out of the room. The next sound we heard was the front door slamming and the car starting and pulling out of the driveway. Then he was gone. I looked at Duke again and he was as surprised as I was.

Duke sighed and moved to wrap me in a gently hug. "Give him some time," he said softly, kissing my forehead. "He'll be back…" I sighed. "I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't…" I said softly. "Nor would I hold it against him." Duke looked down at me. "What?" "I left you guys. I belonged to both of you and I broke that-" I was cut off by a gentle kiss pressed to my lips. "No," Duke said firmly. "You did what you had to do to save this entire town and you kept your end of the deal. You promised to come back to us and you did." He kissed me again softly and I felt myself melt into his arms. The kiss turned passionate and I slipped my hands under his shirt enjoying the feel of his muscles tensing and flexing under my fingertips, but Duke stopped me. "You've JUST gotten back and you've been tortured. You need to rest. Give it a few days my love. We've got the rest of our lives my love. Rest now," he said softly and I kissed him again. "Thank you," I said softly when I pulled away. "For what?" he asked, confusion written plainly over his face. "For waiting for me," I replied and he smiled. "We will always wait for you Rose."

**DWIGHT**

I didn't know where I was going when I stormed out of the house, but I knew I needed to leave. Rose. My Rose. She had been tortured and there was nothing I could do about it. I drove for what felt like hours until I finally ended up at the cemetery, in front of Claire's grave. I sighed and sat down in the dirt for a moment. "Hey Claire," I said softly. "It's been awhile. I used to come here everyday with Rose to talk to you and then...life just started to move on. I miss you every single day. Even though I've got Rose and Duke. But I don't know how to handle this Claire. Rose was tortured. Tortured. And Duke...Duke's seen this kind of thing before so he knows how to handle it. But me. I've never seen this before. Not even in Afghanistan. I don't know what to do for her Claire. I don't know how to help her." I sighed and dropped my head into my hands.

I stayed there for a long time just thinking before finally deciding to head home. When I got in the car I saw it was almost 3 in the morning and I quickly put the car and in drive and sped through the quiet streets of Haven. When I pulled up to the house there were no lights on so I quietly slipped in, hoping to just slip into bed with my loves and deal with everything in the morning. Then I noticed the small light on in the kitchen. I quickly moved into the kitchen and was surprised to find Duke sitting up with a cup of tea in front of him. "You okay?" he asked softly, his voice neutral. I swallowed and nodded. "Yeah I just…" I trailed off unsure of how to continue. "She thought you were leaving. For good," he said plainly and I stared. "What?" "Yeah. She thought that you didn't want her anymore because of what happened. I told her that wasn't true. But I lied because I honestly don't know. Is that what that was?" he whispered fiercely, finally meeting my eyes where I saw hurt, fear, and anger all warring in them as he got up and began pacing. I gaped at him for a long moment as I took in his words. "No!" I responded just as softly and fiercely. "Never! I'm in this for the long haul Duke. You know that. But I've never had to deal with torture! I don't know how to handle something like that!" He stopped then and looked at me in confusion. "But...in Afghanistan…" he began and I shook my head. "I wasn't there long enough. They pulled me out after…" I paused thinking about my unit before continuing. "And I came to Haven. I don't know how to handle this…" I said again softly, my voice breaking and tears filling my eyes. "She's hurt and I don't know how to help!" I said desperately. Duke quickly moved to me and wrapped me in a tight hug. "We have to help her together. I don't know how to handle it any better than you do but-" He was cut off by a noise from the entryway of the kitchen. "You don't have to handle it," Rose said softly, her voice shaking. "You don't have to stay…" she began, but we were both moving to hold her and wrap her in between us. "That's not what we were talking about Baby Girl," I said softly, lifting her chin so she would look me in the eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. I just needed to clear my head for a minute. I love you Rose. I'm not leaving you I promise." I leaned down and captured her lips in a soft kiss, sealing my promise. "You're ours and we are yours. We aren't going anywhere unless it's together," Duke said softly as he wrapped his arms around both of us. She smiled at up at us both and nodded. "Lets go to bed," she said softly and together we all made our way upstairs.

**MARI**

"Ugh..." I moaned as I came out of the bathroom for the third time today. "I really hate the flu!" I shuffled back over to the bed and crawled in, burying myself under my covers. "Are you sure this is the flu love?" Jace asked from across the room. I was making him sleep on the couch because I didn't want him to get whatever bug I'd gotten. Actually, I had tried forcing him out of the apartment entirely, but the couch was as far as he'd go. "What else would it be?" I asked him. "Food poisoning would have cleared up by now." "That's kind of my point though babe," he said, coming over to the bed and sitting on the side. I moved so that I was as far away from him as possible. "Go back over there!" I said pointing to the other side of the apartment. "I don't want to get you sick!" "It's been almost five days love, the flu would be gone by now, and any chance of getting me sick would be done with. I think you should see a doctor." "No! Uh-uh! Not happening. I'm fine! I just need to sleep. I'll be fine!" I said and rolled over, bringing the covers with me so that my body completely disappeared and it looked like there was just a mountain of covers on the bed. "Don't make me call Duke and Dwight…" Jace said, with a warning tone in his voice. I turned my head quickly to look at him. "You wouldn't!" I said. He got up and walked back into the kitchen, smiling a little. "I would and will if you don't go by the end of today," he said. "Grrrr," I groaned into my blankets. Fine. I'd go to the doctor, but he wasn't going to tell me anything I didn't already know. It was the flu. Plain and simple.

A few hours later Jace was dropping me off at the doctor's office. "This is so pointless," I said as I stared at the building. "I already feel better! You should just take me home." It was my last ditch effort to get out of this, but I knew it wasn't going to work. "No, you're going. If you're right, and it's nothing, drinks are on me. When you're better. What's your issue with the doctor anyway?" Jace asked as I unbuckled my seatbelt. I sighed. "Nothing in particular. I just don't like people examining me that closely. And besides, doctors have really weird minds, like seriously strange. Creepy even." "You don't seem to mind when I examine you," Jace said and I turned to see him smiling at me. I smiled back. "That's different," I said. He kissed my cheek and I got out of the car. "I'll be back for you later," he said and he drove off. He had wanted to stay, but I told him to get back to work. I turned and walked into the waiting room. I walked up to the front desk and the lady looked at me and said, "Name?" "Mari Henderson," I said. I smiled to myself as I saw recognition in the nurse's mind. She knew who I was by reputation and had made a lot of negative assumptions. Most of them weren't true. I saw her eye the tattoo on my right wrist, just visible over the sleeve of my jacket. "Take a seat. Doctor Martin will be with you shortly." _Yeah right,_ I thought as I found a seat. Even in small towns, doctors always took their time.

"Ms. Henderson? Mari? Are you...did you hear what I said?" My heart had stopped beating and there was a pounding in my ears. _That can't be right! He can't...he didn't just say that! The test must be wrong! I'm hearing things!_ All of these thoughts crashed into my head all at once. "Are you sure?" I asked slowly, trying to bring myself back to focus. "I mean, really sure? Like 200% positive?" The doctor looked at me slightly grimly. "Yes," he said with no emotion at all. "The tests came back positive. There's no mistaking it." I felt myself nodd. "If you need any information-" the doctor started. "No. I'm ok," I said still in a state of shock. I knew all the information, or at least all the medical information he could give me. What I needed was time to think. I felt myself get up from the examining table and walk out the door. I needed to clear my head and the only way to do that was to walk. I knew that I was supposed to call Jace when I was done with my appointment so that he could pick me up, but I couldn't face him right now. I couldn't face anyone, and yet, for the first time since I was a little girl, I wanted my mom.

I walked from the office back down to the Gull. It wasn't a particularly long walk, but it gave me the time I needed to clear my head, or at least, clear it enough to try and figure out what my next move was going to be, but I had no idea what to do. I knew what my options were, but I was so confused that none of them seemed right. As I got to the Gull I saw Jace watch me walk upstairs, noticing that, in his mind, I looked like I was dazed and confused. An apt judgement. As I got to the top of the steps I heard him follow me up. I opened the door, hung my coat up on the hook in the wall and went and sat on the couch, staring at the fireplace. Jace was right behind me and I felt concern flooding off of him. "Mari? Is everything ok? What did the doctor say?" he asked me as he came and sat down next to me. He took my left hand in his and rubbed gentle circles against my skin. "You were right," I said, trying to smile and still staring at the fireplace. "It's not the flu…" I felt tension and worry rise in Jace. "Whatever it is, we can beat it together. You're not alone," he said, sounding like he was gearing up for battle. I leaned my head back against the couch and tried to slow my breathing, listening to the water outside. I was quiet for a long time and Jace was getting anxious. "Mari, what is it? What did they find?" He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and gently touched my face. I knew I had to tell him. It was only fair and it involved him too, because I knew he wouldn't let me face this on my own, no matter what. I closed my eyes. "I….I'm…..pregnant…." I finally said, letting the word hit the air like a lead balloon. I couldn't believe I was saying this out loud. That I was even saying it at all! I had always been so careful! Always used protection, because I knew that this was not something that I could ever, under any circumstance, let happen to me.

I felt Jace freeze next to me as he took in what I said. _Wait for it…._I thought to myself, expecting him to take charge. "Are you sure?" he asked quietly. I nodded. _Wait for it…_He took a breath and then spoke quietly. "Ok." "Wait, what?" I asked in total confusion, turning to look at him. "We can do this," Jace said turning to look at me. I was completely shocked. He was calm and I could feel love pouring from him. "Wait. You're ok with this?" I asked getting up. I could feel myself getting hysterical. Jace just looked at me in confusion. "Yes. Why wouldn't I be? I mean it's a shock-" I snorted. "But," he continued. "We can handle this-" "HOW?" I screamed cutting him off. "How the HELL are we supposed to handle this Jace? This isn't something that will just go away with time, I'M PREGNANT!" I screamed, standing up. "I know," Jace said. I started pacing the floor. "I wasn't ever supposed to get pregnant! I'm not mom material! I'm...I'm.." I stuttered looking for the right words. "I'm...broken and rude and bad and I HATE pink and bows and I'm not a good roll model! Mom's are supposed to be good role models and be nice and know how to bake and like dresses and pink! I'm not...I can't...And I don't know the first thing about kids! I was never the kid type! I never babysat in high school-" "Calm down Mari, calm down! It's going to be ok!" Jace said wrapping his arms around me. "You don't have to like pink and bows to be a good mom. And I'm pretty sure no one actually knows what they are doing when they have their first kid. There's supposed to be a learning curve. What I want to know is how this happened?" I pulled back to look at him with one eyebrow raised. "How do you _think?_ You do know the stories about a stork dropping babies off in the middle of the night are just stories?"He snorted and said, "I just meant we are always so careful, we always used protection and you're on the pill. How could this have happened?" My mind was immediately filled with images from one very hot night a month ago. I touched his face, sending the images to his mind. "Oh yeah," he said, a smile playing on his lips. "That was a really good night". I snorted.

I walked over to the kitchen and stood with my hands on the sink, looking out the window. "What are we going to do?"I asked him quietly. I was terrified. He walked up behind me and again wrapped his arms around my waist. "Nothing," he said into my ear. "We can do this. Together." "But we're not even married or anything",I said, still trying to process this whole day. "Well that's easy enough to fix" he said and I could feel his smile on my skin. I rolled eyes and thought _How romantic. _As if he had heard me he nodded in agreement. "True. It's not how I was planning on proposing." I turned to look at him with a questioning look as if to say '_You were _planning _on proposing to me?' _This time he rolled his eyes. He put a hand under my chin and turned my whole body so that I was staring him in the eyes. He looked at me, suddenly all business as if what he was about to say was the most important thing in the world. "I love you Mari. More than anything in this world. I never thought I could love anyone or anything as much as I love you. I haven't wanted to spend a single second away from you since the moment I met you. At first I thought it was just because you were so different from other girls, but I finally realized it was much deeper than that. Do you remember what I told you on the docks that night?" I nodded. How could I possibly forget that night? It was the first time I had said "I love you" to a guy and truly understood what it meant. The first time he said it back and I realized he really meant it. "I meant every single word," he continued, "I want to spend every day of the rest of forever with you by my side." I could feel the blush rise in my cheeks and the tears starting to spill down my face. I tried to look down, but he pulled my gaze right back up. "I love you." he said gently. "And I will love this baby. Our baby", he said gently putting his hand between us so that it lay on my stomach. I kissed his lips and then put my forehead to his and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I love you so much"I said. He laughed, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. He pulled me to him and kissed me, each kiss getting deeper and more passionate, and yet still remaining sweet somehow. I finally had to break away to breathe. I leaned my forehead against his again, keeping my eyes closed, not wanting to break this moment. I sighed as a sudden thought occurred to me. "What?" he asked breathlessly, his eyes closed. "I just realized we have to tell Duke and Dwight. They're gonna freak!"He laughed at that and kissed my lips lightly. "I guess they can't really talk though. They both would've married Rose after the first month if they thought she would've said yes." We both laughed at that. "And here I thought this day couldn't get any harder," I said. "Don't worry. They'll be fine," Jace said, kissing my forehead. "They better, I'm not sure I can keep both of them off of you if this goes bad," I said only half kidding. "We should tell them soon," Jace said. "Yeah…" I sighed.

Two hours later Rose, Dwight, and Duke were all in my apartment. I had invited them over on the pretense of dinner, but Rose could tell there was something else going on. We were all sitting down at the table, having just finished up our dinner when she broached the subject, quietly. _Mari, I know something's up. What's going on? Are you ok? _I sighed. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but having everyone here had made it infinitely harder than I had imagined.

Before I could answer though, Duke turned to me. "So Jace said you went to the doctor this afternoon. Everything ok?" I could hear the concern in his voice and I shot a glare at Jace. He didn't look at me. _Looks like time's up, _I thought to myself. It was now or never, and never wasn't an option. "Um…" I started, unsure of how to say it. "Yeah, everything's fine. Sort of…" I could feel everyone looking at me. I played with my fork and stared at the table. "Mari...did they...find something?" Rose asked cautiously. "Yeah...kind of...I mean...I'm….pregnant." There was utter silence in the room for a full minute and then it exploded into chaos. Rose and Dwight were busy hugging and congratulating me and Jace, while Duke was trying to contain his anger towards Jace and his confusion at us both. Rose and Dwight started talking animatedly about baby names and whether Jace and I wanted a girl or a boy. Duke still just looked at us both, not quite sure what to do. After a few minutes I slipped out onto the deck to get some air. I was happy Duke and Dwight hadn't tried to kill Jace, but all the excitement was giving me a headache. I leaned over the railing and took a few deep breaths, putting my head in my hands.

"You sure about this?" Duke asked as he came up next to me. "I mean, are you sure this is what you want?" I smiled. I knew why he was asking. We were one in the same, Duke and I. The idea of having a family scared us both, especially when we had to be the responsible ones. The lives we had lived had never really prepared us for having a family, and to be honest, until very recently, neither one of us even thought about it. "Yes...no...I don't know," I said, feeling like that was my answer to everything today. "You need to figure it out. You can't change your mind halfway down the road-" "I know!" I spat at him, then instantly felt bad. "Sorry," I said. "I just...I feel like….God I don't even know what I feel anymore. I went in to the doctor today at the request of my boyfriend, thinking I had the flu, and left with the knowledge that I'm now responsible for another human being. My entire world got turned upside down and I have no idea which way is up." "Jace isn't forcing this on you is he?" Duke asked a little too forcefully. "What?! NO! God no! I mean he wants this but...I think he'd be ok if I didn't…I mean if I chose to end it I think he'd understand." I said looking at Duke. "Good," he said, leaning against the railing and looking back at the apartment. "At the end of the day it's your decision, not his. You know that right?" he asked me, turning to look at me. "Yeah I know, but since when did you become all "mother's rights"? Last I checked you were pissed when Joan got taken away." I felt a sudden pang of sadness wash over Duke. "Since the mother in question is my baby sister." I was taken aback for a second. "Do you think I can't do this?" I asked, a little hurt at his not believing in me. "No," he said and put his hand on my shoulder. "I _know_ you can do this, but it's not about that. You have to know it, or else you'll never be happy, and what's worse, your kid will never be happy. Like I said, this isn't something you can do halfway. You're either in or you're out. You can't have it both ways. But," he said pulling me in for a hug. "For what it's worth, I know you'll be a great mom, and you've got all of us to help you." "I just never thought I'd be here," I said quietly. "Neither did I." He responded. "What did you do, when you found out about Joan?" I asked him. He had never told me much of the details except that he had been tricked into sleeping with a Troubled woman who then had his baby three days later. Also that if he went anywhere near his daughter, she'd make him age until he died in a matter of minutes. "It was like my whole world stopped spinning and suddenly everything was about her. I mean I was glad I didn't have to raise her," he stopped and I could feel how bad he felt for being so selfish. "But I think I could have been ready, if I'd had to be," he finished. "You really think I can do this?" I asked him. "I _know_ you can do this," he said and kissed the top of my head.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

**ROSE**

In the five months since I had returned things had calmed down a bit. Nathan had been overjoyed to see me and had then turned to Mari and apologized profusely for blaming her. While it hadn't excused what he had done, it had helped sooth Mari and in her condition soothing was a good thing. She was now almost 6 months pregnant and it was definitely noticeable not only in her figure, but in her moods. She was more volatile than she used to be and her mood swings could happen at any moment so we had all learned to walk on eggshells around her whether she liked it or not. Jace was being a great boyfriend and had gone to every single appointment with her, holding her hand and soothing her whenever she got scared, which was quite often. I helped her in anyway I could, but in the end there was only so much I could do without using my magick and while most people just assumed that I was being careful, there was a darker reason behind that.

I shook my head, trying to move past that train of thought. I would manage without magick until Magnus could find the Pyxis. The last time we had talked he had spoken with our old friend Tessa and she had a good idea of where to find the one her late husband Will's family had. So they were close to finding it which was a great relief. I was shaken from my thoughts by a pair of hands going over my eyes. "Guess who," a voice whispered in my ear and I laughed softly. "Good morning my darling," I said as I turned to capture Dwight's lips with my own. "How'd you know it was me?" he asked, pouting. I smiled and ran a finger along the scruff of his cheek. "Your scruff and no goatee my darling." He laughed and kissed me again. I responded in kind, wrapping my arms around him tightly and pulling myself as close to him as I could. "I love you Dwight," I said softly as I pulled away for a breath. "I love you too, Rose," he responded, breathlessly. He kissed me again harder lifting me onto the counter and stepping between my legs. Just as things started getting hot, an intense pain shot through my head. I clenched my eyes shut, afraid to look at Dwight. "Rose?!" He cried as I pushed him away and grabbed my head. "Are you okay?" he asked softly and I nodded. "Yeah, sorry just. Bad headache. Migraine," I replied. "Can I do anything?" "Can you grab me the vicodin from the upstairs bathroom?" I asked softly and I felt him move away. I slowly got off the counter and looked at my reflection in the window. My eyes weren't their normal soft, warm gray, but an icy, intense blue. I gasped and shook my head trying to clear it. I heard Dwight walking down the stairs as the pain in my head began to dissipate and quickly glanced at my reflection again. My eyes were back to normal. It was getting worse. _Hurry up Tessa! _I sent mentally, hoping that wherever she was she would hear me.

**MARI**

"Hey Lana, I'm going for my break!" I called as I waddled over to a chair on the deck of the Gull. I figured I could help fold the napkins and arrange the silverware, but I needed to sit down. I was 6 months pregnant and my stomach bulged in front of me like a huge balloon. "Sure thing Mari!" Lana called back to me from the kitchen. Jace and Duke had insisted that Jace take over at the police station after I told them I was pregnant and that I take over for Jace here at the Gull. At first I had protested profusely. I wasn't going to be the girl that changed her entire life just because she was expecting, but after three months, it was becoming harder and harder for me to actually do much of anything and Dwight had practically chained me to a desk, so I eventually gave in. I figured at least this way, I wouldn't have to be inside all day doing paperwork.

I sat down in one of the chairs and began folding napkins for that night. "Hey Duke," I said smiling, hearing and feeling him long before he even got to me. "It's really creepy that you do that you know?" he asked me sitting down next to me at the table. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Still? I've been here for what, over 2 years? You should be used to this by now." He smiled and reached for a pile of napkins. I slapped his hand. "I can do this!" I said. There wasn't much I could still do by myself and I hated needing help so I revelled in the things I could still do. "Sorry!" he laughed. "Just thought you might want help," I looked at him pointedly. He laughed harder. I shook my head incredulously and went back to folding the napkins. "So how are you doing?" he asked me, leaning back in his chair. "Fine," I said as I sighed. He looked at me and raised his eyebrow. I knew that look. It was one I gave to him, and many others, quite often. I rolled my eyes. "I'm tired. And hungry, and hormonal, and I can't do anything. How do you think I am?" I asked him. "Hey, you just gotta focus on the positive! Pregnancy is a beautiful thing!" he said smiling. "Oh yeah? You should try it sometime if you think it's so wonderful," I said focusing on the napkins. "You gain tons of weight, have no control over body, and can't actually eat the things you want to eat because either they are bad for the baby or your boyfriend has decided they are bad for you and won't let you have them!" I folded the napkin I was working on with more force than I intended. "Breathe Mar," Duke said still smiling. "I know it's tough, but Jace is just trying to be helpful." I sighed. "I know," I said. "I'm just frustrated. He won't even let me eat ice cream anymore!" "Hey, why don't we go sit down by the water?" Duke suggested. "The napkins aren't going to fold themselves," I said, grabbing the next napkin on the pile. "No, but seeing as how I'm your boss and you are carrying my niece, I'm insisting you take a break. A real break," he added as I started to protest. I sighed. "Fine, but you are going to have to help me up," I said. I pushed the chair back enough to get out of it and Duke offered me his hand. I took it and we both heaved me up so that I was standing. We walked slowly down to the deck chairs on the dock. Duke helped me lower myself into one of the chairs and then he took the one next to me. I leaned my head back and took in the smell of the bay. It smelled like salt and seaweed, almost making me gag.

"So have you guys decided on a name yet?" Duke asked me. I laughed. Jace and I had NO idea what we were going to name our child. We didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl yet. Jace had wanted to know, but the idea of knowing what we were having made it all too real for me and scared me too much so he gave in. "Jace wants Jennifer if it's a girl and Will if it's a boy, but…" I said, trailing off at the end. "Those are nice names. Why don't you like them?" Duke asked me, curious. "I don't know, they just seem so….I don't know...normal? Boring? I mean come on, mom pretty much set us up for that with our names. Duke and Maripossa? I just feel like I've seen so many Jennifers and Wills in my life." I sighed knowing that this reason was really pathetic, but something about both those names just rubbed me the wrong way, but maybe it was just that I didn't want to pick a name yet. Again, it made this whole thing so much more real, which, again, scared the living daylights out of me. Duke laughed. "Yeah, you've got a point there with mom. She certainly had a way with names. You could always choose Wade…" he said laughing. I made a face. "That's horrible! And so not funny" I said and smacked his arm. "Just saying…" Duke said still smiling. "Yeah, well don't!" I said and smiled to myself. "Ok, if you could choose any name in the world, what would it be?" Duke asked me. "I have no idea! It's not something I ever thought about, and don't give me that look!" I said looking over and Duke and seeing his disbelief on his face. "I never in a million years thought I'd be a mom and have kids! It just, was never on my radar, and no, not every woman thinks about having kids. I should know." I said answering his unspoken question.

"Are you second-guessing your decision?" he asked me quietly. I thought about that for a minute. "No. I mean…" I started slowly and then sighed. "I never thought this would happen to me but...as much as it all scares the shit out of me, and as much as I kinda wish it had happened a few years down the road, I'm kinda ok with it all. Strangely. Jace has been amazing, not that I expected anything different, and with the family all back together, I know I'll have support. And to be honest," I said smiling and putting my hands protectively on my stomach. "I'm actually kind of curious and excited to meet this kid. And I know I'm gonna screw up, but I've got a pretty awesome support system here," I said. I felt Duke smile and relax. He knew that in a few hours I'd freak out again, but for the time being, I was happy, which was all that mattered to him. Everyone had been on "Keep Mari calm and happy" duty since I'd announced my pregnancy and it was actually really funny watching them bend over backwards to try and keep my mood swings under control and keep me calm about the whole thing. I knew they were all worried about me, which was partly how I knew that it would all be okay in the end. If they cared this much about keeping me sane while I was still pregnant, imagine what they would do once the baby actually got here! "This kid is going to be so spoiled," I said laughing. "What do you mean?" Duke asked me. I could feel his confusion and laughed even harder. "I mean, you and Dwight and Rose and Jace are all gonna be wrapped around this kids' finger so bad!" Duke laughed. "Yeah probably," he said. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"How's Rose doing?" I asked trying to change the subject. I had a very specific reason for asking, but I couldn't let Duke know that yet. "She's fine," he said and leaned forward in his seat. "She still get's headaches every now and then, but she seems like she's completely back." Damn. That meant he had no idea. Technically, neither did I, but something was off. I couldn't put my finger on it, but her mood would shift randomly from calm to angry in a flash, and I could tell she was expending a lot of energy keeping me out of her head. At first I thought it was just her flashing back to her time beyond the door and not wanting me to see anything, but things just kept getting more weird than less as time went on. And so far neither Duke nor Dwight had noticed, which meant not only was Rose doing a fantastic job of keeping things under wraps, but it also meant that whatever it was was so big she felt like she couldn't tell the two people she supposedly had no secrets from. That made me nervous. "Why do you ask?" Duke asked bringing me out of my thoughts. I shrugged. "She literally went through hell. That's not something someone gets over overnight. I just wanted to check and make sure she was doing ok," I said, trying to keep my voice light. "Oh, yeah she's doing great!" Duke said. "Cool," I said.

"Ouch!" I said and put a hand over my stomach. "You ok?!" Duke asked in sudden alarm. "Yeah I'm fine. This kid just has a good leg!" I said laughing. Duke relaxed immediately. "Here," I said and put my hand out. "Give me your hand." He gave me his hand and I put it on my stomach just above the place that had received the kick. "Feel?" I asked him. He furrowed his brows slightly and then smiled. "Yeah! That's so cool!" he said in excitement. "Yeah, it would be cooler if it wasn't to my kidneys though," I said. "How does Jace feel about it?" Duke asked. "About the kicking? He's super stoked! He pretty much constantly has his hands on me so he can feel every single one. It's actually getting kind of annoying." Duke laughed and took his hand away. "No I meant about the whole pregnancy, Mar." "Oh, the previous answer still pretty much covers it. I think he's read every pregnancy book known to man. Seriously, anytime I have a question about _anything,_ all I have to do is ask him, and if he doesn't know the answer, he goes online." Duke and I both laughed. "No he's really happy," I continued, thinking. Jace had been there every second since I'd told him I was pregnant, to make sure that I was happy and comfortable. He tried to get me to stop doing anything at all, but after a very long fight, I was finally able to convince him that that wasn't going to happen. Since then, he'd been amazing. The best part was seeing myself through his eyes. When I started having to wear maternity clothes, which I was not at all happy about, he always told me that I looked beautiful and amazing. He was going to be an amazing dad. "Ok," I said trying to get up. "This has been great, but I've got to pee." Duke stood up and helped me up and we both walked back up to the Gull.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

**ROSE**

I was leaning against the counter talking to Mari at her apartment when I felt it. I was losing control again. My head started pounding and I tried to control my breathing. "Mari," I said softly, interrupting her rant on Jace's excessive desire to paint their babys' room yellow. She was nine months pregnant and had a tendency to rant now more than ever. "Rose, what's wrong?" she asked, suddenly worried. "Um I need to go," I said simply. "Um, how about no?" Mari replied. I grinned, but gritted my teeth in pain as another wave ran over me. "Mari, please…" I begged softly. I didn't want to hurt her, but if this happened with her here there was no telling what would happen. "No, Rose. Tell me what the hell is going on! You've been hiding something from me for months," she responded. "Fine! When I got back a piece of William came with me…" I finally got out and there was silence. "A-What?!" She screeched, struggling to a standing position, using the nearby chairs as leverage. "Those little black things? Yeah they are pieces of William. He left one in me and it attached itself to my magick. I've been able to control it, but it's-"I cut off screaming. "Rose?" Mari said moving towards me. I threw my hand out to stop her and a pulse of magick left my hand. "NO!" I cried out as it hit Mari, sending her flying back against the table. I wrapped my arms around myself and moved towards her. "Mari," I said softly as she moaned in pain. "I'm so sorry!" "It's okay, but umm...can you get Duke? I think the baby's coming…" I stood still for a second staring at her and she looked at me in confusion for a second. "Rose...your...your eyes…" she said softly. "I know...I know...I'll go get Duke." I ran down the stairs, leaned into the restaurant and yelled, "Lana, tell Duke that Mari's in labor!" Then I ran the rest of the way to my car and dialed Magnus' number. "Magnus, I need it NOW! I just hurt Mari and caused her to go into labor. I want this bastard out of me!" I screamed and hung up the phone, accidentally crushing it. I turned on the car and sped back to the house, praying that Dwight wasn't home. Once I was certain no one was home, I screamed in frustration and magick began coursing through me, throwing things around me in a wind. "No…" I murmured, trying to rein in the powers, but it was too much. I lost control of the magick and it continued to swirl as I fell unconscious.

**MARI**

"Ow! God damn it!" I felt another contraction go through my abdomen and tried to get up. I knew I couldn't stay here on the floor and a part of me wanted to run after Rose. "Why did you have to do this now?" I asked my stomach. "Mari?!" Duke rushed through the door looking around frantically. "Over here-" I was cut off by another contraction. "A little help?" I asked reaching my hand up. Duke rushed over to me. "Are you ok? Are you hurt? Rose said-where is Rose?" he asked seemingly all at once. "I'm fine-ow-more or less. Rose is…" "That's it. I'm calling the hospital," Duke said, cutting me off. "NO!" I shouted. "No hospitals! I don't want any hospitals. And besides we've got bigger problems...after this!" I said. "Just please help me over to the bed," I pleaded. Suddenly Duke's whole attitude shifted and he was suddenly very "take-charge". "Ok, here," he said as he got behind me and put both hands under my arms and hoisted me up to a standing position. He led me slowly to the bed and helped me up onto it. "You have to call Jace. He needs to be here." I said through gritted teeth. I closed my eyes as another contraction went through me. "Mari, breathe, just breathe," Duke said calmly. He grabbed my phone off of the nightstand and called Jace. "Jace, it's time. You better hurry!" Duke said into the phone. He hung up and helped prop pillows behind me so that I was more or less in a sitting position on the bed. "How far apart are the contractions?" He asked me. I gave him a look. "You really think I've been paying that close attention?" I asked a little to snippy. "I've been a little distracted, you know, what with your girlfriend sending me flying halfway across the room and it having something to do with William-OW! Mother-" "MARI!" Duke shouted cutting me off. "What?! Are you seriously telling me that I'm not allowed to swear in my current state?" I screamed. Duke sighed heavily. "It's not going to help and do you really want the first words you baby hears to be you swearing?" I gritted my teeth. I had to admit he had a point. "Fine, I will _try_ not to swear!" "Thank you." "Duke," I said quietly as another contraction went through me. "I'm scared." I was almost on the verge of tears both from the pain and from the realization by the end of today, my life was going to have changed completely. Duke squeezed my hand and then hugged me gently. "I know Mari. It's going to be alright." I hugged him tightly.

15 minutes later Jace came running through the door followed very closely by Dwight. After taking a quick glance around the room Dwight looked at Duke. "Where's Rose?" he asked in concern. Duke shook his head. Jace ran over to the bed, taking my hand and kissing my forehead. "What did I miss?" he asked half joking. "Oh you know...not much," I said laughing and breathing hard. By this point my pants were off and the lower half of my body was concealed under the blankets. "Sorry I'm late," Jace said apologetically. "No worries, Duke's been taking care of me, although I'm still not sure how he knows how to," I said looking quizzically at Duke. He shrugged. "You'd be surprised where my life has taken me over the years," he said. A laugh burst from my mouth. "Seriously? You've helped someone give birth before?" I asked not believing what I was hearing. I saw images go through his head. "Oh great, and I thought this was the fun part," I said and threw my head back on the pillows. I felt another contraction and gripped Jace's hand tightly. I could feel his mind flash to the pain it caused, but he didn't say anything. "Sorry," I said. He shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said as he kissed me.

"Ok Mari, it's time to push," Duke said from the end of the bed. "Oh God, I don't think I can do this!" I said frantically. Jace kissed me again and said, "Yes, you can. I know you can do this! Everything's going to be fine." I looked into his eyes and was met with the utmost belief and love. I nodded and then looked at Duke. "Ok, I'm ready," _I think_. "Ok Mar, push!" I pushed with everything I had and squeezed Jace's and Dwight's hands in the process, nearly crushing them. "Ok, good Mari, good. Take a breath. Relax," Duke said. I was breathing hard and I laid my head back against the pillows. I closed my eyes trying to shut out the unbelievable amount of pain I was in. "I can't believe she's doing this without saying anything," Dwight said next to me in disbelief. "Yeah well, _someone_ told me not to!" I said and looked at Duke, narrowing my eyes. "Probably a good idea," Jace said on the other side of me. I shook my head. "You guys clearly have NO idea how much this hurts!" I shouted as I felt the next contraction. "Ok, Mari, time to push again." I whimpered and closed my eyes. "Now!" Duke said. I pushed again with everything I had and again squeezed both Jace's and Dwight's hands as hard as I could. I screamed in pain as I felt the baby's' head moving through me. "Ok, Mari, take a breath. That was really good. You're almost there." I felt tears falling down my face. "Jace, it hurts. It really hurts," I cried. I felt a cool hand on my face. "I know love, I know. It's almost over," Jace said quietly, trying to comfort me. "Ok Mari, one last big push and it's all over," Duke said from the end of the bed. I shook my head. I didn't want to feel any more pain. I just wanted to shut my eyes and crawl into a hole and die. "Mari come one, just one more. You're doing great sweetheart," Duke said putting a hand on my knee. "Come on Mar, you can do this," Dwight said next to me. "Mari, look at me," Jace said. I turned my head and looked at his face, which was slightly blurred by my tears. He wiped them from my face and held my face with his free hand. "Mari you've been through much worse than this. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but you CAN do this! Don't you want to meet our baby? I _know _you can do this!" I felt a surge of strength go threw me and I looked back at Duke. "You ready?" he asked me. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready," I said. "Ok then, push!" I gave everything I had to push that baby out. I screamed as I felt it come through me but then suddenly there was no more pain. I slammed my head back against the pillows and was only vaguely aware of Jace kissing my face and Dwight congratulating me. I felt like I had just been through the worst torture of my life and all I wanted to do now was sleep.

But I was suddenly aware of Jace next to me placing a bundle of blankets in my arms. I looked down and saw the most precious big green eyes looking back at me. Everything in the room stopped and the only thing I could see and hear and feel was the beautiful baby looking back at me. I felt hot tears rolling down my cheeks, but this time it wasn't because of pain. They were tears of pure joy. "Congratulations," Duke said quietly. "It's a girl." I felt my heart melt and freeze all at the same time. I was suddenly struck with sheer horror at the idea of having a little me running around. "What are we going to name her?" Jace asked at my side. He was sitting on the bed with one arm wrapped around my shoulders and his other hand stroking our baby girls' head. It took me less than 30 seconds to decide. "Jennifer," I said and looked at him, kissing him gently on the lips. "Her name is Jennifer."

"She's beautiful," Dwight said, now standing with his arm around Duke. I saw the hesitation in their faces. "Thanks," I said. "For that and for helping me. Go find Rose. She needs you." I saw both men hesitate for a second. "Go! We'll be fine," I said quietly, but urgently. I watched them walk out the door and prayed that whatever Rose was planning on doing would work and that she would be ok. Jace seemed to be reading my mind. "She'll be fine," he said quietly, bringing my focus back. "I know," I said and looked at the beautiful pink baby in my arms.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

**ROSE**

I could hear Duke and Dwight pounding on the front door, but my magick had thrown furniture in front of every possible entrance to the house. "ROSE!" they yelled. "Let us in! What's going on?" "I'm sorry!" I called out in reply. "But I can't let you in until this is taken care of. It's too dangerous." I was sitting against the wall with one outside window open and they were next to the window. "Rose. Tell us what's happening. Please!" Dwight begged and I felt the tears roll down my face. "When-" I broke off with a sob as another wave of pain crashed through my head. "Ah! When I came back, apparently a small piece of William was still attached to me and to my magick. It's been-ah! Trying to gain control of my magick and create a new body for itself, but I've been able to keep it in check while Magnus searched for a way to separate and hold him. Him and a couple old friends should be arriving soon with a box, very similar to Pandora's Box. It's called a Pyxis and it will hold him. But until then I need to barricade myself away from anyone else I can hurt. I already hurt Mari on accident and I don't want to do it again!" the tears were streaming down my face and my teeth felt like they were going to crack from how hard I was clenching them. "You didn't hurt Mari, sweetheart," Duke said softly and I could hear the tears in his voice. "She and the baby are just fine. It's a baby girl, by the way. They named her Jennifer." I smiled at the knowledge. "Jennifer. What a beautiful name," I said softly.

"This is it Rose," Dwight said after a period of silence that was broken only by my gasps of pain. "After this there is no more self sacrificing, no more evil witches, no more danger. The three of us are going to take a nice long vacation and just relax. Is that agreed?" I laughed softly. "Yeah that sounds good to me!" Duke responded. "Sounds like a plan," I said softly. There was the sound of tires on gravel as a car came up our drive and then three doors slamming. "Is she in the there?" I heard Magnus ask softly. "Yeah I'm here Magnus," I called out. "Rose?" I heard another voice ask and I started sobbing with relief. "Oh thank the gods Tessa!" I cried out. "Jem's here too sweetie. We're going to take care of you. I promise. Can you let us in?" she called out and slowly breathed and used the tiniest bit of magick to move the cabinets and boxes covering the doors which resulted in them flying across the floor and smashing into a nearby wall. I heard the door open slowly and five sets of footsteps entering the house. When Duke and Dwight saw me they moved to run to me, but Jem and Magnus held them back. I knew I must have been a sight to see, covered in sweat, hair all crazy from having run my fingers through it too many times, eyes flashing from soft gray to a harsh blue and tear tracks covering my face. I tried to smile at them, but my head was pounding too hard. Tessa looked as beautiful as ever, her dark brown hair was pulled into a ponytail at the top of her head and she still looked like she was just barely 20 years old, but her eyes told a very different story. "Oh sweetheart," she said softly as she stepped forward and placed her hands on mine. "Are you ready to be done with this? I'm sorry it took me so long to find Will's Pyxis. He hid it very well," she said wryly, tossing a smile back at Jem who nodded in agreement.

She opened her bag and pulled out a simple silver box. The Pyxis. "Okay, Rose. Here's what we have to do. I need you to sit in the middle of the room. Duke, Dwight, if you want to stay you can, but you cannot interfere. This is going to be painful to experience and painful to watch. Can you handle it?" she turned her piercing eyes on them and they both nodded. "Okay then you are going to sit on either side of her and hold her hands. Ground her. Jem you are going to be behind her. Hold her shoulders for me. Magnus you hold the Pyxis. As soon as William is in it, you lock it and seal it with every spell you know. Everyone know what to do?" Everyone nodded and Tessa helped me to slowly move to the center of the room. Once everyone was situated I carefully placed one of my hands in Duke's outstretched hand and the other in Dwight's. They both gently entwined our fingers and squeezed in reassurance. Jem placed his hands firmly on my shoulders and I leaned my head against his arm for a moment, pulling in his strength and care. Then I turned my eyes back to Tessa and nodded. She gently placed her hands to my temples and within moments I was screaming in pain. It felt as if both her hands were knives as she gently tried to pull and disentangle William from my brain and my magick.

"You will not have her!" William's voice shouted from my mouth and I could see both Duke and Dwight staring at me in shock. "You will leave her at once," Tessa commanded softly, pulling harder, causing me to convulse in pain, the only thing keeping me upright was Jem's body behind me. "No! This body is mine. I will eradicate the girl and take it for my own!" William said through my mouth. I could feel him digging his claws into me as if they were nails piercing my brain. I convulsed again as the pain worsened and Jem knelt down so his arms were wrapped around my waist and my head lolled against his shoulder, Tessa's fingers still attached to my temples. Magnus was watching with a worried expression and both Duke and Dwight had gone pale. "I command you to leave this body," Tessa said in the same even tone. "I command you by the Angel Raziel and the Angel Ithuriel. If you do not leave now you will not be spared!" she warned and I could feel her power growing, her fingers growing hot against my skin. I braced myself as best I could against Jem as William once more refused to leave. Then my mind was filled with light, Angel Light, calm and curing. I felt all the shadows of William fade from my mind and fall into Tessa's open palm, a small round black ball, just as the Troubles had been. Tessa quickly placed the ball in the Pyxis and Magnus slammed the top shut, muttering spell after spell to ensure that it was never opened and he was never released.

I collapsed completely against Jem and he gently brushed the hair away from my forehead. "You did well, darling," he said softly and I smiled up at him wearily. There were still a few fading Marks of the Brotherhood on his face, but all in all he was no longer the Brother Zacharias that I met many years ago. He was the young and handsome James Carstairs. "You look good for being over 100 years old," I said softly and he chuckled. "You can thank Tessa for that," he replied as he helped me lean forward again and look at Tessa. She was checking me over for any signs that William was still within me. "Can you perform a spell?" she asked gently and I nodded as I carefully disentangled my hand from Duke's for a moment and flicked my wrist, lighting the nearby candles on fire, adding a soft glow to the room. "Good sweetie. You've done well. Now rest. I will restore your home to working order and we will be here when you wake up," she said softly as my eyes drooped and I fell into the first nightmare free sleep I'd had in 9 months.

**DUKE**

I watched as the young woman Rose had called Tessa quickly set to work cleaning up the mess that used to be our living room while the young man Rose had called Jem, gently lifted Rose into his arms and looked towards me. "Where is her bedroom?" he asked softly. The question seemed to shake both myself and Dwight out of our daze and we quickly got up and led him to our room where he placed Rose gently on the bed and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Both of us tensed at the contact and he must of have noticed because as he turned to us he said, "Peace my friends. I have no designs on your woman. I see her as only a sister and someone to protect. She is your woman just as Tessa is mine." We both visibly relaxed. "Will she be okay?" I asked softly as I moved to the side of the bed, kneeling down to run my fingers gently through her hair. "Yes," he replied. "She just needs to rest. William must have been deep rooted in her brain for Tessa to have called forth the Angels. She only does so in the most dark of times." I frowned up at him. "How do you two know Rose?" Dwight asked as he sat down on the bed beside Rose for a moment. "That story is better left for Tessa to tell, for she met Rose before I did. Come let us leave Rose to rest for now. Tessa should be done cleaning up and will be more than happy to answer all of your questions," Jem said, smiling. It was then that I noticed the white scars along his face and neck. They looked very much like the Marks and Runes that Jace had.

We returned to find the living room looked exactly as it had this morning and there were no signs that anything had been amiss. Magnus and Tessa were sitting on one of the couches and Jem immediately moved to asses her, running his long slim fingers along her face gently before placing a kiss on her lips. She smiled up at him and then smiled at both myself and Dwight. "So you are the two handsome gentlemen who managed to capture Rose's fancy and heart?" Her voice was soft, with a just the slightest trace of a New York accent. "I'm Duke," I replied. "And this is Dwight." He nodded to her and we both took seats on the couch across from them. "I'm Theresa Gray and this is my husband, James Carstairs," she said softly. "I know you must have many questions and I'm hoping I can answer the first one easily. I met your Rose many, many years ago, when she was just a young child. Her grandmother called for what we call a Silent Brother. They are a group of healers and archivists that the Shadowhunters call upon. Her grandmother was trying to help ease Rose's mind. She was only two at the time and had witnessed her mother and father being burned alive in a barn and that had caused nightmares so powerful she wouldn't even sleep. So, with the help of Jem, I was able to create a mind block that needed to be renewed every few years. We got to know Rose and her family quite well until finally, when she was 16, her grandmother decided she was old enough to really deal with the nightmares and with what had happened. Then we became friends and counselors. Whenever Rose needed to talk she was free to call me. Jem taught her to heal herself and others as best he could. We became her friends and allies. When she made a trip to New York I introduced her to Magnus and the rest was history. We have been the four muskateers ever since. We always watch out for each other." Dwight and I smiled at each other as we heard the story. We had heard a version of it before, but never with any names so it was nice to finally meet the people who had helped create who she was. The moment was interrupted by Dwight's phone ringing. He glanced at it and then at me. "It's Mari," he said softly before excusing himself to answer the phone. "Is Mari doing okay?" Magnus asked and I nodded, smiling brightly. "She had a beautiful baby girl named Jennifer. Although I'm not sure if she is going to take Mari's last name or Jace's…" I said, trailing off in thought.

"Jace?" Tessa asked softly, looking at Magnus with a question. "Yes, your Jace. And yes. That means Jennifer is a Herondale," Magnus replied, his eyes softening. Tessa took a deep shuddering breath and Jem wrapped his arms around her tightly. "What's up?" I asked and Tessa smiled softly. "One of the curses of an immortal life is losing the ones you love. When I first met Jem, he had a friend who was like a brother to him. His name was William Herondale. After losing Jem to the Silent Brothers, Will and I mourned together, grew close and eventually fell in love. We were married for many years and had many children. Unfortunately our line was thought to have ended after our great great grandson, Stephen, was killed. Then I discovered that his son was alive. Jace. Jace is my great-great-great-grandson and now I have a great-great-great-great granddaughter named Jennifer? I would...very much like to meet them while we are here. Do you think that would be possible?" The look on her face was so hopeful that I couldn't help but nod. "Of course. Let me speak with Mari and see when they would be up for visitors."

**MARI**

I woke up slowly to the sounds of low voices in the kitchen. I opened my eyes slowly, blinded slightly by the last of the daylight coming through the windows. I stretched, and then instantly winced, still in pain from giving birth just a few hours before. I looked at the clock on the nightstand next to me and realized I must have passed out some time after calling Dwight. I quickly rolled over to see my baby and was startled to find she wasn't next to me. "Jennifer?" I asked out loud in alarm, my breath instantly speeding up. "She's right here love," I heard from across the room. I looked over towards the kitchen and saw Jace holding a bundle of blankets and talking to Duke. I let out my breath and sighed in relief. "Bring her over here," I said, not wanting to spend any more time away from my baby. Jace smiled and walked over, Duke following quietly behind. "Duke, is Rose ok? I talked to Dwight and he said everything was fine but…" I trailed off, a little alarmed by his visit. If Rose was really fine I expected him to be with her. He smiled and Jace nestled Jennifer back in my arms. I rearranged the blankets around her face. "Rose is fine Mari, she's sleeping now. I'm here for two completely different reasons," he said as he sat down on the bed and looked at his niece. "I came to see her," he said motioning toward the sleeping baby in my arms. "And I came to ask you both a question." He looked at Jace as he said this and I got the feeling that whatever the question was, that was what they had been talking about when I woke up. "What?" I asked looking at them both. They both turned to me with questions in their eyes. My brow furrowed. "What? Why are you looking at me like…" I began but then stopped dead as the realization hit me full in the face. I had no idea what they were talking about. For the first time in my life I had absolutely no idea what was in either of their heads. "Oh my God!" I nearly screamed, jostling Jennifer in the process. She woke up and started crying. "Oh crap! Shh, it's ok sweet girl, it's ok, mommy's sorry for scaring you! Go back to sleep, shh," I said trying to sooth her. "So much for having no idea what you're doing," Duke said smiling. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I can't hear you!" I said quietly, shocked. "Hold on, let's test this," Jace said and he looked at me very intently. I saw his eyes flicker to Jennifer and he smiled. I had a pretty good idea what he was thinking, but I couldn't hear him in my head. I shook my head. "Nothing, well, not exactly." Both Duke and Jace looked at me in confusion. "I can't _hear_ you in my head anymore. I can't hear anyone...except myself...which is going to be really strange, but I can...I don't know how to explain it...it's like instinct...you were thinking of me and Jennifer, weren't you?" I asked looking at Jace. He smiled and nodded. "I was thinking about how perfect you two look together, and how I'm the luckiest man in the world," he said as he sat down next to me. I smiled. "See, I knew you were thinking about us, but...not exactly that," I tried to explain. "What about feelings?" Duke asked. I looked at him and tried to feel something. After a minute I said, "Nothing." Duke looked at me in complete and utter shock. "Maybe…" he began but I cut him off, knowing where his mind was headed. "Maybe," I said. "But first things first. What did you want to ask us?" I asked him. He looked at me and Jace and Jennifer again and then said, "There's someone who wants to meet you. All three of you. She's one of Rose's friends, but I told her I had to ask you first. I didn't know if you'd be up for visitors after everything today." He had a point. It had been a very long day and right now all I wanted to do was spend the rest of it with my new family, but the look in Jace's eyes suggested that he wanted to meet whoever this person was. I looked at him. "I'm fine with it if you are. For a bit," I said and grabbed his hand to squeeze it. He squeezed it back and then nodded to Duke. "Ok, I'll call Dwight and let them know, and then I want to hold my niece," he said excitedly. I pouted. Duke laughed and leaned down to kiss Jennifer's forehead.

As he went outside to call Dwight I turned to Jace. "She's never gonna touch the ground or a bed is she?" I asked. He laughed quietly. "Quite possibly not," he said smiling down at our daughter. _Our daughter_. The words felt strange to think even though I'd had nine months to prepare myself for it. Holding Jennifer in my arms in this moment I was glad I could only feel my own feelings. I didn't think I'd be able to handle anyone elses. I felt scared, excited, happy, fearful, anxious, and dread all at the same time. No matter what Duke thought I really did have absolutely no idea what I was doing, and although Dwight and Rose had both shown me the basics in how to care for my baby; changing diapers, feeding her, bathing her, getting her dressed, and swaddling her, I still felt like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Dwight had told me that the nuances would come with time and that there was no way to really prepare for them. I turned my attention to Jace. "What's got you spooked?" I asked him. "Huh?" he responded, distracted by the angel in my arms. "Your reaction to whoever is coming? Do you know them? I mean like, are they from your...world?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know them. I've heard about them, but that's all. One of them is a really good friend of Magnus but that's all I know. The other one is-or I guess used to be a Silent Brother," he began explaining. "Used to be? I thought you said that was a permanent thing?" I asked in confusion, cutting him off. A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled his explanation when I had asked what a Silent Brother was. "It is, usually, but somehow this guy found a way around that...I'm not to clear on the details," he said. "Why do they want to meet us?" I asked, trying to make the pieces fit but feeling like I was missing chunks of the puzzle. That was a first, and it made me edgy and frustrated. "I don't know. Duke just said Tessa was interested in meeting us," Jace said. He squeezed my shoulders. "It'll be alright love," he said. I leaned my head back against the pillows.

Duke came in and sat back down on the bed. "Ok, they'll be here soon. It's Magnus and Tessa and Jem. Dwight is staying with Rose so she doesn't wake up alone. Now, can I please hold this little one?" he asked looking at me. I sighed. "Ok, but only for a minute," I said letting him lift Jennifer gingerly from my arms. "Support her head!" I chided him as he tucked her safely into his arms. "I know!" he said as he smiled down at his little niece. I watched him and couldn't help but smile. He looked so peaceful and adoring. I suddenly realized that no matter what happened in her life, she would always have her uncle Duke. That thought made me relax a little. At least she wasn't doomed to have my childhood. At least she'd have someone to go to if she ever felt alone or scared, or like she couldn't come to me or Jace. "So when are you and Dwight asking Rose?" I asked coyly. "Asking Rose what?" Duke asked innocently, finally tearing his eyes away from Jennifer. I raised an eyebrow. Jace snorted next to me. "Oh come on Duke, even I know what she's talking about," he said. Duke smiled wryly and looked back at Jennifer. "Oh you know," was all he said. I glared at him. "That's not helpful," I said. "It wasn't supposed to be," he replied.

There was a soft knock on the door. Jace got up and went over to the door, opening it to let in Magnus and two strangers I could only assume were Tessa and Jem. Tessa was beautiful, with brown hair pulled neatly into a bun and a small yet angular face. Her small frame was covered up by jeans and simple pea coat. She looked like she was younger than me, which made no sense given what Rose had told me about her. Jem was tall and looked like I could break him in half if I'd wanted. I looked closer and saw slight muscle lines under his long sleeve shirt. His face was also angular and he had dark hair that was cut short with a silver streak going through it. He also looked like he was younger than me, but not by much.

I looked at Tessa again and could see sadness and hope in her eyes. Jace shook hands with her and Jem as Magnus introduced them. Magnus then turned his attention to me and Duke. He walked over and peered over Duke's shoulder to see Jennifer. "Congratulations," he said, lifting his head so that he was looking at me now. "Thanks," I said, still a little unnerved by him. "Herondale or Henderson? We were discussing this earlier and couldn't come up with an answer," he asked smiling. I thought for a brief moment, unsure of how to answer, but Jace answered for me. "Herondale," he said, coming around Tessa and Jem and taking his spot next to me on the bed. I saw Tessa and Jem look at each other quickly and then they walked over to the bed. Duke gave Jennifer back to me and then stood up. "I should go be there when Rose wakes up," he said and walked towards the door. "Tell her to stop by, if she's feeling up to it?" I said. "I will," he said and he leaned down and gently hugged me. "I'll go with you and make sure she's doing alright," Magnus said and he followed Duke out the door without another word. I suddenly got the feeling that we were purposely being left alone. I glared at the door. I really didn't like not knowing what people were thinking. I briefly thought about the irony in that. My whole life, all I'd wanted was to stop the voices, and now that they were gone for good, I wanted them back.

"So, Duke said that you wanted to talk to us about something?" Jace asked Jem and Tessa. Tessa nodded. "May I?" she asked, pointing to the end of the bed. Jace looked at me and I nodded, looking at Tessa. "Thank you," she said and sat down. Jem moved to stand next to her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I wanted to meet you and your daughter," Tessa began, looking at Jace. "Why?" I asked, my "mamma bear" instincts kicking into overdrive. Not knowing everyone's motives made me even more wary than I usually was. "Because…" Tessa started and then looked at Jem. The two shared a meaningful look and I got the feeling that they might share the same connection that Duke, Dwight, and Rose shared. "Because," Jace prompted. "Because we are family," Tessa said looking at Jace. He blanched and stared at her. "I don't have any family. The Herondales are dead," he said, sounding defensive. I put a hand on his hand to keep him calm, but my left arm tightened around Jennifer. Tessa continued to look at Jace. "It's true your parents are dead and have been your whole life but...I'm your-" "My what?" Jace cut off, his voice demanding. "Your great, great, great, grandmother. William Herondale was my husband. My first husband." There was silence in the apartment for a full five minutes. Jace stared at Tessa like he couldn't believe what she was saying. Even though I could no longer hear his thoughts or feel his emotions, I knew exactly what he was thinking and feeling. "But, how?" I finally asked, breaking the silence. Tessa turned to me, her eyes full of sadness. "I am not fully Shadowhunter. My father was a greater demon who tricked my mother into sleeping with him. The story of my life is long and very boring, but it means that I do not age. I met Will the same day I met Jem, and after Jem was more or less forced into becoming a Silent Brother, I married Will. We had many happy years together but as I watched him die I realized I couldn't watch this happen to all of my family. I ran and stayed hidden for so many years the remnants of the Herondale family forgot about me." "Is that why you never came for me?" Jace asked. I could tell he was hurt. "Oh Jace," Tessa said reaching her hand out to him. Half way there, she changed her mind and brought her hand back to her lap. Jace got up and stalked over to the kitchen. Tessa watched him and then turned back to me. "I had no idea that he was even still alive until just recently," she said quietly. "I turned my back on my family years ago, but I've never regretted it more than when I found out that Jace was alive, that he had been raised by such an awful man!" I could see tears in her eyes and her voice sounded strained. I felt sorry for her, even though I knew where Jace was coming from. I needed to talk to him, but I was still holding Jennifer and didn't want to wake her. "Would you like to hold her?" I asked Tessa. A sudden bright smile crossed her face and she lit up. "Yes please!" she said. I moved and she took Jennifer in her arms. "She's beautiful!" Tessa said gazing into Jennifer's eyes. "I'll be right back," I said smiling and I slowly got up. I walked over to the kitchen and touched Jace's shoulder lightly. I nodded towards the door and we both walked outside to the deck.

When we got outside I turned to look at him and saw that he was crying. "Oh Jace," I said and wrapped my arms around him. I felt his arms wrap around me and they almost crushed me to him. "I know it's hard to understand, but I'm sure if she had known about you she would have come for you!" I said, trying to get him to see reason. "She said it herself, she abandoned her family, she wouldn't have come for me," he said. I moved so that I was looking at him and I wiped the tears from his face. "I know it's hard to believe. I felt the same way when I found out about Duke, but when I found out he had no idea, I had to forgive him. There was nothing he could have done, he didn't know." I hoped he would understand. I saw anger flash through his eyes, but then his face softened and he pulled me in for another hug. "You're amazing, you know?" he asked into my hair. "So are you," I said and kissed him.

**ROSE**

When I came to I was surprised to find Magnus sitting in the chair positioned next to the bed. "Ah! Sleeping Beauty awakens," he said softly, his eyes shining with happiness. "You cut it close, dear one." I nodded, slowly pushing myself into a sitting position. "I know, but I blame Will for hiding that damn Pyxis too well," I replied grinning. He laughed softly. "Well, Will was many things, but I'm not sure if practical or smart were two things I would associate with him at all times," Magnus said thoughtfully. "How long have I been out?" I asked after a moment of quiet. "Only about two hours. Duke and Dwight are downstairs. I sent them to make tea when I sensed you were starting to wake up. I wanted a chance to talk to you alone," he explained and I looked at him in confusion. "What's up Magnus?" I asked in curiosity. "Tessa met Jace," he said softly and my mouth dropped. I had known since I first met Jace that he was, in some way, related to Tessa, but I didn't know if he knew or if she even knew so I had opted to keep my mouth shut. "And…" I pressed gently. "And I'm not sure. I left before it really happened. I was too much of a coward. You know how painful it was the first time I saw Jace! He is so much like Will he could almost be a reincarnation. I didn't know how to tell Tessa that I had found another Herondale and I wasn't even completely sure he WAS a Herondale until after the fight in Alicante. I just...I got scared…" he finished softly. I moved slowly, testing my muscles and came to sit so we were knee to knee on the edge of the bed. "Magnus," I said softly. "It's okay to be scared, but I think both of your friends need you right now. How about once I finish my tea we all go over together. I want to meet my niece, apologize to Mari, and spend some time with Tessa and Jem before you all disappear on me again!" I laughed, hoping that he would too. The tension was broken when he let a little chuckle past his lips.

With help from Magnus I was able to get up and make my way downstairs where I found Duke and Dwight finishing up the tea. "You're awake!" Duke cried happily as he saw me come around the corner into the kitchen and I couldn't help but smile at him. "I'm awake," I replied before screaming as he picked me up and spun me around before bringing his lips to mine in a deep kiss. "Don't you EVER scare me like that again!" he whispered harshly against my lips and I looked into his eyes for a long moment, seeing the fear fading as relief and love took over. "I'm sorry," I replied. "I never meant to scare you. Either of you." Dwight came over and took me from Duke's arms and held me close for a moment before he too pressed his lips to mine in a more gentle kiss. "It's okay. Just don't do it again, please?" he asked softly and I nodded. "Now drink your tea," Magnus said as he handed me a cup. I could feel that he had enchanted it and I glanced at him. "It will help you gain your strength back much quicker," he replied and I nodded in thanks.

Once we finished our tea we made our way out to the car and were quickly on our way back to the Gull. I was anxious to see the new baby and I knew I owed Mari and apology. When we arrived I quickly jumped out of the car and made my way up the stairs. I took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door. There was the sound of footsteps and Jace quietly opened the door. He looked like a paradox. Happy and sad, heartbroken and in love, all at the same time and I knew that Tessa must have told him. "Hey there daddy," I said softly, trying to make him happier. He smiled brightly at me and pulled me into a hug. "Hey auntie," he replied, making me laugh. "How is she?" I asked as I stepped into the room. I took note of Tessa and Jem standing near the bed with Mari and a bundle of blankets in Jem's arms. "They're both doing well," he replied and gestured for me to go ahead. I quietly made my way towards Mari. "Hey," I said softly and she turned to me and smiled. "Hey," she replied, patting the bed next to her. "I'm so sorry!" I said as I crawled onto the bed and pulled her into a hug. "Don't be sorry! Look what happened!" she said pointing to the baby in Jem's arms. "I finally got to meet my baby! And she's beautiful!" Mari said, with some tears in her eyes. _But I hurt you, _I thought towards her and waited for a response. When I didn't receive one I looked at her in confusion and she smiled even bigger. "Apparently you getting rid of that last piece of William did the trick. My troubles are gone!" I looked at her in surprise and pulled her in for another hug. "I'm so happy for you!" She laughed and we held tight for a moment. "Now, would you like to meet your niece?" she asked softly and I quickly got up and moved towards Jem. He smiled brightly at me and gently placed the bundle of blankets in my arms.

I looked down at the bundle in my arms and smiled. She was perfect. She looked up at me with wide eyes, the color of jade. She smiled happily and I grinned. "Why hello there Miss Jennifer! You are going to be the most spoiled baby in all of Haven!" I cooed softly, letting her wrap her hand around my finger tightly. "Oh you've got a good grip on you, my darling." I slowly walked to the nearby rocking chair and sat down, completely oblivious to anything else in the room.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

**DWIGHT**

The scene that Duke and I walked into was nothing short of breathtaking. Mari, Jace, Tessa and Jem were talking quietly at the bed and as we walked through the doors Magnus immediately made his way over to them, but I was too busy looking at the rocking chair next to the window. Duke nearly knocked me over and he too froze when he saw what I was looking at. Rose was sitting in the rocking chair rocking slowly with Jennifer in her arms. She was looking down at the baby with a peaceful and serene look on her face that I had never seen before. Duke leaned his head on my shoulder as we watched her coo softly to the baby in her arms and I looked back at him and he nodded. "We need to do this soon…" I said softly. We slowly backed out of the room and made our way out onto the deck. "So…" I began as I wrapped my arms around Duke. "How do you wanna do this?" I asked him, resting my chin on his shoulder. Duke leaned his head back so that is was resting against mine. "It needs to be…" he started, thinking out loud. "Simple, but personal," he finished after a moment. I nodded in agreement. "I agree, but what about the where and when?" I felt Duke's chest rise and fall underneath my arms. He was quiet for a long time. "Down there," he said motioning to the dock below us. It was where Rose had come back to us, where we both were given a second chance with the woman who had stolen our hearts and brought us together. "Perfect," I whispered into his ear, smiling. I kissed his cheek. "Seeing her with Jennifer…" Duke started. I sighed. "Yeah, I know. I don't think I've ever seen anything more perfect," I said, remember the scene from just a few minutes ago. I felt tears stinging my eyes as I remembered holding Lizzie for the first time. It was like everything in the world stopped and nothing else mattered but her. Not me, not the fact that her mother was gone, nothing. She was perfect, and I knew that the children I'd have with Duke and Rose would be just as perfect.

"So you finally made a decision?" we heard from behind us and we turned to find Mari leaning casually against the door frame. I glanced at Duke and he nodded. "Yeah," I said simply and she smiled. "Good. I was wondering how long it was going to take for you guys to make it official!" She pulled us both into a hard hug. "And I'm sure I don't have to say that if you hurt her I will have to kill both of you, right?" We all laughed and moved back inside. Rose had given up her hold of the baby and was sitting in a corner talking with Tessa and Jem. Duke moved to sit with Mari while I moved to Rose. "I know and I'm sorry," Rose was saying as I walked up and wrapped my arms around her waist, kissing her cheek gently. "Hey sweetie," she said softly, leaning into my body. I smiled at Tessa and Jem. "Thank you, again, for helping. We may have lost her again if not for you guys." They smiled and both placed a hand on Rose. "She's like family to us. We would do anything for our little Rosie," Jem said and Rose's cheeks turned pink. "Jem! You said you wouldn't call me that anymore!" she whined and I smiled at the interaction. Things were finally starting to calm down.

**ROSE**

Tessa and Jem stayed for another week before heading back to New York with Magnus. I was sad to see my old friends go, but I also knew that if they were leaving it meant they felt I was in the clear and on the road to a full recovery. Plus it meant more time spent with my boys and my beautiful niece. Life couldn't have been more perfect. I looked out over the landscape of Haven as I drove towards the Gull and couldn't have stopped the smile that grew on my face even if I wanted to. Duke's Trouble had finally faded, we had discovered last night after a bar fight took place and one of the local women, Marion, had ended up cut. Duke was tending to the wound and had gotten some of her blood on him. We all froze in anticipation, but Duke broke out into the biggest smile as the blood stayed on the surface of his skin rather than being absorbed. It was a night for celebration, that's for sure. I shifted in my seat, relishing the slight soreness that always seemed to follow a night in bed with my boys.

I pulled into the Gull parking lot and was surprised to find no other cars, but I immediately forgot that when I saw Mari waiting for me with Jennifer in her arms. We were heading out for a girls night and Jennifer was going to join us. I jumped out of the car and gave Mari a quick hug as I dropped a kiss on Jennifers forehead. "Hello my cuties!" I said happily and Mari looked at me with a look that told me if I called her that again she would kill me. She had toned down a lot since becoming a mother and was getting used to the constant radio silence in her head. "Oh shit!" Well, maybe not completely. "I forgot her baby bag. Can you run back to my apartment and grab it while I strap her into her car seat?" Mari asked and I nodded before making my way to the back of the Gull.

As I turned the corner towards the stairs I froze. There was a line of small candles making a path out towards the docks. I glanced behind me and then slowly followed the path. As I got closer I saw two figures standing out at the far edge of the dock. Two very familiar figures. My heart started beating a little faster as I made my out to meet them. "Boys...what's going on?" I asked as I reached them. They were both dressed up in gray suits with black ties and blue dress shirts. They looked damn good and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why they were all dressed up. "Rose," Dwight said softly. "From day one you captured us both and reeled us in. We had no choice in the matter, nor did we want one." "You've enriched our lives with love and just a hint of magick. We've come so close to losing you more than once and we both decided that we didn't want to risk it again. We already know that you belong to us and we belong to you, but apparently the universe hasn't quite figured it out yet. So we decided we wanted to make it a little more...official," Duke continued, with his signature smile. Slowly both men moved towards me and Dwight reached into his pocket pulling out a small box. He opened it and held it out towards me. It was a gorgeous ring with three stones, a diamond for Duke's birth month of April, an emerald in the center for my birth month of May and a tourmaline gem for Dwight's birth month of October. It was small, simple, and elegant, everything I had ever wanted in an-My brain stopped working as I finally processed what was going on. "Oh my god," I said softly and Duke laughed. "There she is," he whispered under his breath. "Rose, will you make us two of the happiest men in the world and agree to marry us?" Dwight asked softly and I stared at both of them for a long moment. "You're serious?" I asked softly. "After everything you still want to be with me?" They looked back at me with incredulous expressions. "Of course," they answered together, firmly. I smiled and nodded. "Then yes," I said softly. "Yes I will marry you." There was silence for a moment as they processed my answer and then I was surrounded and being held by both Dwight and Duke in the tightest hug they could manage as Dwight gently slipped the ring onto my finger. "Us against the world," he whispered as he pressed a soft kiss to my lips. "Forever, no matter what," Duke added as he placed a kiss on my lips as well. "You two amaze me," I whispered as I let them wrap me up. "Did she say yes?!" I heard Mari yell from the end of the dock and we all spun around to face her. "Yes!" I cried back and she moved and quickly as she could towards us. "I told you she would!" she cried out as she threw her arms around me. "Now we really will be sisters," she whispered in my ear and I laughed. "We already were. This just makes it official," I replied.

**BOTH**

"You look gorgeous!" Mari said as she helped Rose zip up the back of her wedding dress. "The boys aren't going to know what hit them!" Rose smiled softly as she touched her hair. It was curled gently and pinned up into a side ponytail. "I hope so. Jace is going to faint when he sees you," she replied looking at Mari, who was in a strapless lace overlay dress in blue. Both women had their makeup done and couldn't keep the smiles off their faces. There was a knock on the door and then Tessa came in. "Hey, Jennifer has been safely deposited into Jem's arms and is still passed out. She should be just fine." "Damn that girl can sleep!" Mari said, sounding impressed. "Now if I could only get her to do that through the night." Rose laughed softly. "And THAT is why I'm glad we don't have any kids yet," she said as she bent her knees so Mari could push the comb of the veil into the bun at the back of her head. "Okay," Rose said slowly, once the veil was in place. "I think…" she took a deep breath, looking in the mirror once more. "I think I'm ready…" she said softly, turning to Mari and Tessa. They both smiled at Rose and took her hands. "You look beautiful sweetheart," Tessa said as she handed her something. "This is your something borrowed," she said and Rose looked into her hand. There was a red ruby-like necklace in her hands. "That was Will's necklace. Cecily wore it at her wedding and I wore it at mine. I think Will would love to have met you and seen it on you at your wedding," she finished as she tied it off. Rose looked down at the jewel and smiled. "Thank you," she said softly. "And this is your something new and something blue," Mari said, handing her a jewel and lace blue garter. "This is the one you keep on. Don't let Dwight or Duke take that one off when they do the garter throw. This is the one you can let them throw," she said, placing a plain blue garter in her hand as well. Rose looked at them both and smiled. "Thank you Mari." Mari laughed and took them from her hands. "Hold Tessa's shoulder and I will help you put them on." Rose nodded and they quickly slipped the garters on. "Well, I guess it's time to get me married?" Rose said once they were done. "I guess it is," Mari said smiling from ear to ear. Tessa handed Mari her bouquet. "Here you go darling," she said. "Thanks!" Mari replied. The three ladies made their way to the top of the aisle.

**ROSE**

I took a deep breath as I watched first Tessa and then Mari make their way down the aisle. It was moments like this where I really wished I had my father with me. As I made a move to step into the aisle I felt someone take my arm and I turned to find Jem standing next to me. "W-where's Jennifer?" I asked softly, tears filling my eyes. "She's safe with Audrey. Tessa and I discussed it and thought you might like some company walking down the aisle," he said softly, smiling down at me. I laughed and a tear snuck down my face. He gently raised a hand and wiped it away. "No tears. At least not yet," he said, kissing me on the forehead. Then he settled my hand in the crook of his arm and we turned to walk down the aisle as the instrumental version of Mo Ghile Mear began to play. I saw the crowd stand to face me and I smiled at the ones I knew. Audrey was standing in the first row with Jennifer in her arms and next to her was Jace's family, the Lightwoods. Magnus was waiting with Duke and Dwight who had Nathan and Jace standing with them. Then my eyes were focused on my men. They were standing ramrod straight both with eyes wide and looks of awe spread across their face. I felt my face heat up with blush as we reached them and they both began to wear smug, male smirks at the knowledge that they were making me blush.

Magnus smiled down at me and I couldn't help laughing at what he was wearing. He had on a bright blue suit that matched the bridesmaids dresses and his hair was also dyed blue with sparkles. His cat eyes were twinkling with mirth and happiness and it was definitely infectious. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join these two men to this woman. Yes it is unconventional, but I think anyone who has seen these three together knows how deep and true their love is. So I ask this of you James Carstairs, as Rose's friend and brother do you willingly give her to these men?" Jem smiled at me and nodded. "I most certainly and willingly do." Magnus then looked at me. "And as women are not property I ask you, Rose Hunter, do you willingly enter into this ceremony as a free woman who wants to be joined to these two men?" I smiled up at him and clearly answered, "I most certainly and willingly do." Jem took my hand and kissed it before stepping back to stand with Audrey in the front row while I stepped forward to stand between Duke and Dwight.

"Love is a many splendored thing," Magnus said dramatically and then burst out laughing at the expressions on most of the crowds faces. "I'm just kidding. Honestly this is going to be a very short, but magickal ceremony. These three have opted to write their own vows so I will let them get started. Dwight we will start with you." Dwight nodded and turned to look at myself and Duke. "Rose, you are what has brought the three of us together. After Claire passed away I wasn't sure if I would ever love again. I felt as though maybe I was cursed. First Lizzie, then Claire. But then we got closer and we felt that spark and my world was instantly changed. We connected on a level that I had never known possible. When Duke came back after those six months I thought I was going to lose you, and I accepted it, but instead the connection only grew stronger and it extended to Duke as well. We are the three musketeers and we always will be. I vow to be steadfast and strong in my love for the both of you. I vow to be faithful to the both of you and never stray. I vow to be open and honest at all times. This I solemnly swear." Dwight placed his left hand on the small podium that was in front of the three of us and looked to me expectantly. I laughed and cleared my throat which was clogged with tears. "Okay," I said softly. "Duke when we met I thought I wasn't deserving of love. But you changed my way of thinking. You made me want to open myself up again and when you disappeared it nearly killed me, but Dwight was there and he kept me sane. Dwight, you were the glue that held me together those six months and when Duke came back that glue grew stronger and pulled him in as well. I don't know what I did to deserve two such amazing men in my life, but I have every intention of making the best of it. I vow to be steadfast and strong in my love for the both of you. I vow to be faithful to the both of you and never stray. I vow to be open and honest at all times. This I solemnly do swear." I placed my left hand on top of Dwight's and then turned my eyes to Duke. His eyes were glassy and he was smiling at both of us. "Okay, I'm really not one for words, but I will do my best," he began, laughing. "Rose, meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. You were the spark in my life and with your help I gained more family than I ever thought I had. We made an amazing team and when I came back from those six months you brought another person on to this team and it has only enhanced that experience. Dwight you are the better and more logical half of both of us and we owe you so much. I vow to be steadfast and strong in my love for the both of you. I vow to be faithful to the both of you and never stray. I vow to be open and honest at all times. This I solemnly do swear," he finished softly, but firmly, placing his left hand on top of mine. I concentrated and three identical silver bands materialized on our left ring fingers. "This rings symbolize your love for each other," Magnus said softly. "They are created from Rose's magick and so will allow you to always sense the other two and feel their heartbeats when you are not together. If there is anyone here that believes that they have any reason to object...you can just get the hell out because we really don't care!" he said glancing out over the crowd with a glare. "And so it is with great honor and the power vested within me as the High Warlock of Brooklyn that I pronounce you three married. You may now kiss your bride and grooms." We looked to each other and I leaned into to kiss Dwight and then Duke and then they leaned in to kiss each other. "May I be the first to present to you Duke, Dwight, and Rose Crocker-Henderson!" Magnus shouted as we turned around to face the crowd. Every cheered and we quickly made our way back down the aisle and to the car nearby. We were officially married.

The reception began without a hitch and we had managed to make it through to the cake before we had any problems. Namely the boys thinking it would be fun to smash cake in my face. Oh I almost killed them where they stood. Then it was time for the garter toss and I had no idea what to expect. I sat down on the chair that was provided by Mari and watched as the boys looked at me with smirks. They knelt down on either side of me and each placed a hand on my ankle. "Take the cloth one," I whispered to them and they nodded in understanding before slowly sliding their hands up my ankle, over my knee and up my thigh to find the cloth garter. They grinned and slowly pulled it off of me leaving me breathless and wanting. Then together they turned their backs to the audience and tossed it. It flew threw through the air and I felt the air explode out of my lungs in laughter as it landed around Magnus out stretched hand as he was explaining something to Nathan. He looked up at his wrist and his eyes bugged out. "What?!" he cried and we all died of laughter. Then Mari handed my bouquet to me and I smiled wickedly at her. She knew immediately what I was thinking and I whispered a small spell before tossing the bouquet backwards into the crowd. Straight into Alec Lightwoods hands. He had been talking with Jace and was caught off guard. Jace burst out laughing as he saw what had happened and who had caught the garter and Alec blushed a dark red. Magnus looked and saw what had happened, turned to glare at me for a moment before quickly striding over to Alec and pulling him into a kiss. The entire crowd cheered and then the party continued.

**MARI**

There was a soft knock at the door. "Mari?" I heard Duke call softly. "Stay right where you are unless you want to see something that you will never be able to scrub out of your mind! I'm feeding your niece," I said laughing softly. I heard Duke's footsteps stop abruptly. "Oh, right, um…" "Just give me two seconds," I said still laughing. "What are you doing up here anyway? There's a whole party downstairs for you. Plus you've got two really hot dates!" I asked as I adjusted my bra and the top of my dress. "There you go sweet girl," I said to Jennifer, picking her up and moving from the couch so that I could talk to Duke. "Jace said you and Jen were up here, and I wanted to spend a little time with the cutest girl in the world before I left," Duke said, putting his arms out for Jennifer and using his baby voice. I made a face. It was still really strange to hear him and Dwight talk to Jennifer. Rose and I had walked in on them rolling around with Jennifer on the floor one day, using their baby voices and we both busted up laughing. "God you just can't get enough can you?" I asked him as I handed Jennifer to him. "Nope!" he said with a big smile, taking her and holding her in the air. "Careful! She just ate! You'll get baby puke all over your tux and then what's Rose gonna say?" I chided. "Hey don't you and Dwight go pushing her to have kids anytime soon," I said as I grabbed my shoes. "What do you mean?" Duke asked, rocking side to side slightly as he held Jennifer. "I mean, I know you both want kids badly, but she doesn't right now. Just let her decide, ok?" I said watching him. "Also, you're going to smush her face if you keep doing that," I said, watching him smash Jennifer's face into his. "No I'm not. She's a baby, she's got lots of baby fat, she'll be fine," he said, but he stopped anyway. Jennifer yawned and I sighed. "Looks like I won't be going back downstairs after all," I said sadly. I had been enjoying the party. "Let me put her down," Duke offered. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Your party. Downstairs. Your incredibly hot husband and wife. Downstairs. And you want to be up here, with a baby?" I asked confused. Duke touched his forehead to Jennifers. "I'm going away for a month, I want some time with her," he said simply. I sighed. "Ok fine, but if you aren't down there in 30 minutes, I'm telling Rose and Dwight and they will forcibly remove you from the premises." Duke nodded and I walked downstairs.

I walked through the door and was immediately assaulted by music and laughter. The sounds of happy people genuinely having a good time. I made my way across the Gull and sat in Jace's lap. "Hey," he said as he kissed me lightly. "How's our girl?" "She's good. She was hungry, but she's all fed now and is spending some quality time with her uncle," I said and I wrapped my arms around his neck, brushing his hair out of his face. Jace raised an eyebrow and I shrugged. "I don't know, Duke just said he wanted to spend time with her, so I figured why not. She was tired so at least this way I get to spend some quality time with you!" I kissed him lightly, but he pushed the kiss deeper until I started seeing stars and couldn't breath. I drew back slightly, catching my breath. "You know," Jace said. "Today got me thinking." "About?" I asked, an eyebrow raised. Jace smiled. "It's still so weird that you don't know," he said, referring to my lack of Troubles. "Oh I know, I mean I don't know know, but my intuition is still incredibly good. But most people still don't like to told what they are thinking and I'm learning to like surprises," I said smiling slightly. "Well, I was thinking about this," Jace said and pointed to the room. "And how nice it would be to have one for ourselves." I looked at him. "A party?" I ventured. Jace laughed and kissed me. "No," he said and reached into his pocket. "A wedding." He pulled out a black box and opened it, showing me the ring inside. It was a simple band with entwined silver stips, dotted with tiny diamonds. I gasped and brought my hand to my mouth in utter shock. Apparently my intuition was off tonight. "Oh my God, Jace!" I said as he slipped the ring on my finger. "Is that a yes?" he asked slowly, looking at me. "Yes!" I nearly shouted. I grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him full on the mouth. I put my forehead to his and felt tears start to fall down my face. "I love you!" I said and gently kissed him again.

"So?!" Rose asked from behind me. I turned to see her and Dwight standing in front of us, Dwight's arms wrapped around Rose's waist. I showed her my left hand. "Yay!" she said and jumped up and down, pulling my into a hug. "You knew?" I asked looking at Dwight over Rose's shoulder. "Of course, he couldn't ask you without asking Duke and I first," he said smiling. I rolled my eyes. "Really?" I asked Jace, looking back at him. "You asked their permission first?" "Well I figured since I got you pregnant before we were married I should probably go about the whole proposal thing the right way," he said smiling. I had to admit he had a point. I shook my head. "Men, no matter how much I have heard over the years I will never understand them, speaking of which," I said, turning back to Rose and Dwight, "If your husband is not back here in 15 minutes, I told him you guys had my full authority to go up and forcibly remove him from my daughters' grasp, which you may need to do," I said smiling. Rose and Dwight both laughed. I sat back down in Jace's lap and watched as Dwight pulled Rose onto the dance floor. They both looked at each other with such love and happiness. Everything was finally right with the world, with each of us having found our spots in it. I smiled up at Jace and he looked down at me. "What's that smile for?" he asked softly, kissing my ear gently. "Nothing. Everything is finally perfect, is all," I answered as I watched my sister and her husband on the dance floor. And it was true. Everything was perfect. Then from the apartment above I could hear a baby's cry. _Well maybe not everything._ "God damn it Duke," I said under my breath and I walked up stairs to take care of my baby girl. Some things would never change and I wouldn't have it any other way.


	14. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

After the wedding Rose, Dwight, and Duke headed off for a month long honeymoon where they travelled Europe, including returning to Rose's hometown of Ballynigel in Ireland. When they returned they all officially moved into a home big enough for the three of them and any possible children that would come along. For the moment they were happy with just the three of them. Magnus, Alec, Tessa, and Jem were frequent visitors in their home and in Haven in general since Jace and Mari had decided that Haven was their home and they were going to raise Jennifer there. Jace and Mari got married in a very small, quiet ceremony on the beach with just immediate family just after Rose, Dwight, and Duke returned from their honeymoon. They moved out of the apartment and found a small home that was still big enough for any more children they might have. They even got a dog.

Five years later Rose, Dwight and Duke welcomed their first children. Twins, a boy and a girl named Claire Elizabeth and Hunter Wade Hendrickson-Crocker. They named Mari, Jace and Magnus godparents and they became two of the three most spoiled children. The other child of course being Jennifer Herondale. Their family grew again a few years later with the addition of Charley Hendrickson-Crocker who would be the only one of their children who took after their mother in magick. She would grow up to be just as powerful as her mother someday.

Three months after the Hendrickson-Crocker twins were born, Mari and Jace welcomed a new addition to their family. A baby boy named Parker Daniel Herondale. He looked just like his father, with beautiful golden eyes and a halo of golden hair. Though he never became a true demon hunter, like his father, he was a tough kid, who always made sure that no one hurt his cousins. His sister could look after herself. Both Jennifer and Parker were completely spoiled and loved by their aunt and uncles. Both families spent almost all their time together, so the kids grew up with incredibly tight bonds.

All in all both Rose and Mari had found their place in the world and, after all the heartbreak and devastation they had faced in their past, they were finally able to live out the rest of their lives in peace and happiness. And even though they were in Haven, with the Troubles gone they were truly able to live happily ever after...weren't they? Well this _is _Haven after all so we may never know.


End file.
